By STEPHANIE FOSNIGHT
STAFF WRITER
What’s the number one killer of
men?
Heart disease.
What’s the number one killer of
women?
Heart disease.
Despite advocates’ best efforts, plenty
of people still don’t realize that heart
disease is the biggest cause of death for
both men and women. In fact, heart disease
kills 10 times more women than
breast cancer.
Whatever your gender, it’s time to get
serious about that hollow muscle in the
center of your chest. Pumping blood is
the heart’s only job, but it’s a crucial one.
And keeping clear arteries, those avenues
along which blood travels to the
heart, is a major goal of heart health.
Coronary artery disease is almost always
caused by atherosclerosis, a buildup of
cholesterol and fatty plaques in the arteries
that blocks the blood flow and can
lead to heart attacks.
“Of the approximately one million
people who die of heart disease every
year, the vast majority are dying of coronary
disease or something that develops
after coronary disease,” said cardiologist
Bruce Bergelson of Rush North Shore
hospital.
The American Heart Association recommends
that both men and women
visit their doctor for a workup to determine
their risk of heart disease, and that
they do it at age 20. Yes, 20.
“Although it may not manifest until
patients are much older, it really starts
developing when people are quite
young,” Dr. Bergelson said. Diet and
lifestyle can have such an effect that early
risk assessment can be tremendously
helpful in planning a lifetime of prevention
and/or treatment.
“Everybody is at risk,” said cardiolo-
(Continued on facing page)
Risky business
Heart disease killed 910,600 people in
the United States in 2003. Slightly more
than half of those who died were women.
The vast majority of heart disease
deaths are due to coronary artery disease,
which affects up to nine percent of
the U.S. population over age 20.
Risk factors
■ Age and Family History
Between the ages of 35 and 55, men are at
greater risk of dying from coronary artery disease.
However, after age 55, the rate begins to decline for
men as it grows for women. Most experts think estrogen
provides protection for pre-menopausal
women, although each year about 9,000 women under
the age of 45 have a heart attack.
■ Lifestyle Choices
Smoking, diabetes, high blood pressure, high
cholesterol and being overweight all contribute to
your risk of heart disease. Many of these conditions
can result from physical inactivity and a high-fat diet.
“Exercise is very important,” said Dr. Bruce
Bergelson. “It’s been shown to elevate HDL – the
good cholesterol – which medications are not very
good at affecting; it is a reasonable way to help with
obesity, which has an effect on hypertension and diabetes;
and it’s probably helpful in helping people to
stop smoking, which is a very, very big factor in the
development of coronary disease.”
Warning signs
Pay attention to any of the following symptoms as
they could signal the onset of a heart attack.
■ Pain, fullness or pressure in the center of the chest
that lasts longer than a few minutes or comes and
goes
■ Pressure or pain that spreads to upper back,
shoulders, neck, jaw or arms
■ Dizziness or nausea
■ Clammy sweating, heart flutters or turning pale
■ Unexplained feelings of anxiety, fatigue or weakness
■ Stomach or abdominal pain that may be temporarily
relieved by belching
■ Shortness of breath and difficulty breathing
Women are more likely than men to
experience symptoms other than chest
pain.
“They’re more likely than men to
have things like shortness of breath or
even fatigue, which is tough because a
lot of women feel fatigued all of the
time,” said Dr. Eileen Kelly. “A lot of
women have gastrointestinal symptoms.”
If you suspect you are having a heart
attack, the American Heart Association
recommends calling 911 and going to
the hospital in an ambulance. Make sure
the hospital staff takes your complaint
seriously and doesn’t make you wait.
— Stephanie Fosnight
Debbie Dunn sat in cardiologist
Annabelle Volgman’s office, hoping
that Oprah had led her in the right
direction.
Dunn had experienced a major
heart attack six months earlier, at
age 46. The attack had left her with
a heart muscle functioning at 30
percent, electrical problems and extreme
fatigue. However, tests
showed that her arteries were clear,
and both of the North Shore cardiologists
Dunn had been seeing
told her there was nothing more
they could do to treat her. They’d
encouraged exercise and vacations
as pick-me-ups to pull her out of the
anxiety and exhaustion she’d felt
since the attack.
“I was getting sicker and sicker,”
said Dunn, who lives in Libertyville.
“I never felt comfortable
picking up the phone and calling
my cardiologist because I was made
to feel like a big complainer. A little
birdie told me, ‘Don’t exercise.’
Thank goodness.”
As Dunn sat on an airplane
with her husband, ready for a doctor-
sanctioned trip to Aruba, she
pulled out an old issue of Oprah
magazine. It fell open to a photo of
Oprah in scrubs, meeting Dr. Volgman
at Rush University Medical
Center. The article was about how
heart disease, not breast cancer, is
the number one killer of women
and yet it’s often not recognized.
“I started sobbing on the plane,”
Dunn said. “I was told I had a heart
attack, yet nobody was taking me
(Continued on facing page)
Close call fuels woman’s quest
Health & Family
Open and shut case
Clogged arteries
killers in most deaths
from heart disease
Clogged arteries
killers in most deaths
from heart disease
Clogged arteries
killers in most deaths
from heart disease
A10
PIONEER PRESS Thursday, February 16, 2006 13
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