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CNN Live At Daybreak
Heart Disease Number One Killer of Women
Aired January 28, 2003 - 05:25 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Heart disease is one of the leading killers of men each year. But you just may be surprised to learn that heart disease is also the number one killer of women.
Our medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has more on a study that raises some important issues.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: When most people think of heart disease, they typically envision a middle aged, overweight businessman and they're often astonished to find out that heart disease is actually the number one killer of both men and women. And now the first ever national survey of women's heart disease patients actually looks at what the impact of these misconceptions really has been.
What they found is that over half the women heart patients were actually dissatisfied with their overall health care. More than half of them also pointed to physician attitude, including ignorance about the disease, as being the main culprit. A great majority of them also developed mental illness, such as depression and anxiety, things like that. Over a quarter of them actually felt that their home relationships, their relationships at home actually deteriorated because they were no longer able to perform the duties as well at home.
But most troubling, really, about this survey was the complete lack of social interaction and social isolation that a lot of these women felt, both at home and in the hospitals, as a result of their heart disease.
Now, there's been a lot of reasons as to why this trend has actually taken place. For a long time, heart disease was considered a man's disease. In fact, a Gallup poll back in 1999 showed that only 55 percent of primary care physicians correctly identified heart disease as being the number one threat to women and only eight percent of women themselves, according to the American Heart Association, were able to actually target heart disease as their number one threat.
Certainly, there's been a lot of public service announcements, there's been celebrity campaigns, all sorts of things towards things like breast cancer, but there's still a stigma around heart disease for women that needs to change, both for patients and doctors alike.
There are symptoms of heart disease that women should know, as well as men. And if a woman has these symptoms it could be heart disease. We're talking about chest pain, shortness of breath, nausea, clammy skin, swelling in the ankles and lower legs. And for women, as well as men, they need to do preventive measures. Get the regular exercise. Get your cholesterol checked. Get your blood pressure checked. Never smoke. Smoking certainly increases the risk multiple fold.
For men and women alike, everyone needs to know about heart disease -- back to you.
COSTELLO: Thanks for the advice, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
And our Paula Zahn will be talking heart and health in the 7:00 Eastern hour this morning. Her guest? Dr. Robert Atkins.
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 28, 2003 - 05:25 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Heart disease is one of the leading killers of men each year. But you just may be surprised to learn that heart disease is also the number one killer of women.
Our medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has more on a study that raises some important issues.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: When most people think of heart disease, they typically envision a middle aged, overweight businessman and they're often astonished to find out that heart disease is actually the number one killer of both men and women. And now the first ever national survey of women's heart disease patients actually looks at what the impact of these misconceptions really has been.
What they found is that over half the women heart patients were actually dissatisfied with their overall health care. More than half of them also pointed to physician attitude, including ignorance about the disease, as being the main culprit. A great majority of them also developed mental illness, such as depression and anxiety, things like that. Over a quarter of them actually felt that their home relationships, their relationships at home actually deteriorated because they were no longer able to perform the duties as well at home.
But most troubling, really, about this survey was the complete lack of social interaction and social isolation that a lot of these women felt, both at home and in the hospitals, as a result of their heart disease.
Now, there's been a lot of reasons as to why this trend has actually taken place. For a long time, heart disease was considered a man's disease. In fact, a Gallup poll back in 1999 showed that only 55 percent of primary care physicians correctly identified heart disease as being the number one threat to women and only eight percent of women themselves, according to the American Heart Association, were able to actually target heart disease as their number one threat.
Certainly, there's been a lot of public service announcements, there's been celebrity campaigns, all sorts of things towards things like breast cancer, but there's still a stigma around heart disease for women that needs to change, both for patients and doctors alike.
There are symptoms of heart disease that women should know, as well as men. And if a woman has these symptoms it could be heart disease. We're talking about chest pain, shortness of breath, nausea, clammy skin, swelling in the ankles and lower legs. And for women, as well as men, they need to do preventive measures. Get the regular exercise. Get your cholesterol checked. Get your blood pressure checked. Never smoke. Smoking certainly increases the risk multiple fold.
For men and women alike, everyone needs to know about heart disease -- back to you.
COSTELLO: Thanks for the advice, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
And our Paula Zahn will be talking heart and health in the 7:00 Eastern hour this morning. Her guest? Dr. Robert Atkins.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
