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American Morning
Heart Disease Leading Cause of Death Among Women
Aired January 27, 2003 - 08:44 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Heart disease is the leading cause of death among women. And this morning, we're paging Dr. Gupta about a worrisome new survey on the subject. It finds that a majority of female heart patients believe the treatment they're getting threatens their recovery.
Sanjay Gupta joins us now from CNN Center in Atlanta.
Good morning, Sanjay.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
ZAHN: So what's the deal? Are doctors treating women with a lack of respect?
GUPTA: Well, I don't think it's so much a lack of respect as much as it's a lack of awareness. When most people think of heart disease, they typically think of a man, typically overweight, a middle-aged businessman, and are astonished really to find out, as you say, Paula, that heart disease is the number one killer of both men and women.
Now there was a survey done by the Mayo Clinic of to figure out what the impact of these misconceptions really are. As you say, Paula, 52 percent of the women with heart disease dissatisfied with their health care, and 58 percent of them actually blaming doctor attitude and poor communication. Really, ignorance about the disease is what they said was the main culprit.
In addition, Paula, not surprisingly, about 57 percent of the women developed some sort of mental illness in association with the heart disease, either depression or anxiety. About 1/4 of women said they had deterioration of family relationships when they got home, because of their inability to perform household duties.
But really, the most troubling thing that came out of the survey was a lot of women felt socially isolated, both at the hospitals and at home, because of a general lack of awareness about the fact that heart disease is the number one killer of women and men -- Paula.
ZAHN: So what should women do about that?
GUPTA: Well, I think that the problem really is on many different fronts. If you talk about -- the physician certainly have a responsibility. The messages aren't getting out there as far as heart disease being such a prevalent issue among women. There was a Gallup poll that found only 55 percent of primary care physicians correctly identified heart disease as being the number one threat to women. Only 8 percent of women, a thousand women actually evaluated by the American Heart Association again correctly identified the heart disease being their number one threat.
And Look at the hard facts, more women die of heart disease each year than men. More women will die within one year of a heart attack, again, compared to men. And more women will have another heart attack within six years compared to men. They're not getting the care they need. The -- out of the all of the angioplasty stints and bypass surgeries that are done, even though women actually get heart disease more than men, die of heart disease more than men, out of all those procedures, only 33 percent are actually being targeted toward women.
What needs to be done I think in part what we're doing right now. You and I spent a lot of time talking about breast cancer, and that's what most women think is the number one killer. There are a lot of public service announcements. There is a lot of celebrity campaign toward breast cancer. That needs to change, so that both doctors and patients alike can recognize this is a problem and women can get the care that they need.
ZAHN: If you read between the lines, are you suggesting that we need to at one more year to medical school here?
GUPTA: No, I think doctors know about heart disease. They certainly know how to treat it and stuff like that. But I think there was an entire generation of doctors that really believed it was mainly a man's disease, and it's not. It's simple as that. Women who come in with classic symptoms.
And look at some of the classic symptoms that you see, chest pains and things like that. A lot of times, women won't associate that, actually, with a heart attack, will associate with something else.
But you can take a look at the list there. If you're a woman or a man and you have some of these symptoms, it could be heart disease, don't forget that, and go see your doctor about that.
ZAHN: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you for setting the record straight this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired January 27, 2003 - 08:44 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Heart disease is the leading cause of death among women. And this morning, we're paging Dr. Gupta about a worrisome new survey on the subject. It finds that a majority of female heart patients believe the treatment they're getting threatens their recovery.
Sanjay Gupta joins us now from CNN Center in Atlanta.
Good morning, Sanjay.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
ZAHN: So what's the deal? Are doctors treating women with a lack of respect?
GUPTA: Well, I don't think it's so much a lack of respect as much as it's a lack of awareness. When most people think of heart disease, they typically think of a man, typically overweight, a middle-aged businessman, and are astonished really to find out, as you say, Paula, that heart disease is the number one killer of both men and women.
Now there was a survey done by the Mayo Clinic of to figure out what the impact of these misconceptions really are. As you say, Paula, 52 percent of the women with heart disease dissatisfied with their health care, and 58 percent of them actually blaming doctor attitude and poor communication. Really, ignorance about the disease is what they said was the main culprit.
In addition, Paula, not surprisingly, about 57 percent of the women developed some sort of mental illness in association with the heart disease, either depression or anxiety. About 1/4 of women said they had deterioration of family relationships when they got home, because of their inability to perform household duties.
But really, the most troubling thing that came out of the survey was a lot of women felt socially isolated, both at the hospitals and at home, because of a general lack of awareness about the fact that heart disease is the number one killer of women and men -- Paula.
ZAHN: So what should women do about that?
GUPTA: Well, I think that the problem really is on many different fronts. If you talk about -- the physician certainly have a responsibility. The messages aren't getting out there as far as heart disease being such a prevalent issue among women. There was a Gallup poll that found only 55 percent of primary care physicians correctly identified heart disease as being the number one threat to women. Only 8 percent of women, a thousand women actually evaluated by the American Heart Association again correctly identified the heart disease being their number one threat.
And Look at the hard facts, more women die of heart disease each year than men. More women will die within one year of a heart attack, again, compared to men. And more women will have another heart attack within six years compared to men. They're not getting the care they need. The -- out of the all of the angioplasty stints and bypass surgeries that are done, even though women actually get heart disease more than men, die of heart disease more than men, out of all those procedures, only 33 percent are actually being targeted toward women.
What needs to be done I think in part what we're doing right now. You and I spent a lot of time talking about breast cancer, and that's what most women think is the number one killer. There are a lot of public service announcements. There is a lot of celebrity campaign toward breast cancer. That needs to change, so that both doctors and patients alike can recognize this is a problem and women can get the care that they need.
ZAHN: If you read between the lines, are you suggesting that we need to at one more year to medical school here?
GUPTA: No, I think doctors know about heart disease. They certainly know how to treat it and stuff like that. But I think there was an entire generation of doctors that really believed it was mainly a man's disease, and it's not. It's simple as that. Women who come in with classic symptoms.
And look at some of the classic symptoms that you see, chest pains and things like that. A lot of times, women won't associate that, actually, with a heart attack, will associate with something else.
But you can take a look at the list there. If you're a woman or a man and you have some of these symptoms, it could be heart disease, don't forget that, and go see your doctor about that.
ZAHN: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you for setting the record straight this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
