Heart health overlooked by women, study says

St. Francis Medical Center administrators and doctors say that many women in Southeast Missouri don't take heart disease seriously, and they want to change that.

At its annual meeting Tuesday night, the hospital announced the launch of its Women's Heart Advantage program, an educational outreach intended to show women that heart disease -- not cancer -- is the No. 1 killer of women.

"It is surprising to most people that every year since 1984 American female deaths due to heart disease have been 6 to 9 percent greater than those of males," Stephen Bjelich, St. Francis Medical Center's president and CEO, told the roughly 1,000 people who attended the dinner at the Show Me Center.

While male deaths because of heart disease have been decreasing, female deaths have been rising, he said.

Bjelich said that public perception generally is that men are more affected by heart disease, and a recent survey by the hospital shows that to be false.

An independent firm conducted the study of 500 women, ages 40 to 70 years old, from Cape Girardeau and surrounding counties. The study, released at the meeting, said that 82 percent of area women are currently at risk for a first heart attack.

The study also said that more than half of the women identified more than one risk factor that they had but didn't consider themselves at-risk. Almost that same percentage of respondents also said that they see breast cancer as the greatest threat to their health.

Better awareness

Women's Health Advantage focuses on heightening awareness of heart disease as a women's health issue among health-care providers and women. It encourages women -- through a mix of the hospital's existing and new programs, events and campaigns -- to educate themselves and to get a check-up if they are at risk.

"We will highlight prevention, detection and treatment of women with heart disease," said Dr. Laura E. Holmes, a Cape Girardeau family practice doctor who is also the initiative champion. "We want women to understand how their symptoms and experience of heart disease can be different from a man's symptoms and experiences."

The classic symptoms for heart attacks are squeezing chest pain, shortness of breath, sweating and pain spreading to shoulders, neck or arms. But in women, the more likely symptoms are indigestion, dizziness, unexplained weakness or fatigue, discomfort between the shoulder blades or a sense of impending doom.

The major risk factors are: smoking, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, a sedentary lifestyle, obesity, family history and early menopause.

Yale-New Haven Hospital, launched the pilot program last year. Since then, 100 other hospitals and 33 health-care systems have joined the initiative.

smoyers@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137