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American Morning

'House Call'

Aired February 04, 2004 - 09:43   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.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: It might surprise you to know that heart disease is the leading killer of women in the U.S. The American Heart Association has just now released new guidelines specifically designed to keep women heart healthy.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us this morning to talk a little about those recommendations.

Good morning again.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

We can't talk about this topic enough. You know, I think women and doctors alike are always surprised to hear what you just said, that it is the biggest killer of women out there. More women die of heart disease than all of the cancers combined, about 10 times more than breast cancer, just to put it in perspective.

It's confusing a lot of times, in part, because sometimes the symptoms can be different, but mainly because people just haven't focused on it.

Take a look at some of the symptoms. First of all, when you think about women -- oh actually, the guidelines, the new guidelines that we just were talking about actually just released a few minutes ago. Now they are going to look like guidelines that there were there for men years ago -- 30 minutes of moderate physical activity on all days. This is for women with intermediate, high or low risk for heart disease. Evaluate for depression as well. Why? Because that's important in terms of actually seeking treatment. They find that a lot of times, if there's depression, these women won't seek treatment. Omega III fatty acids supplements, folic acid as well.

Also there are things that they don't recommend, things that women should not have. And this is also interesting, hormone therapy -- you and I have talked about that, Soledad, now an official recommendation as well by this American Heart Association. Antioxidant supplements -- we talk about that a lot as well. The American Heart Association saying not enough evidence to support that right now. Also, routine use of Aspirin in low-risk women. Don't just start taking Aspirin, because you think you have a risk of heart disease. There are dangers to that as well.

Also an interesting one I saw as well. We talk about statin drugs, the Lipitor and things like that, they're saying probably pretty good for high risk-women, even with pretty good LDL numbers, which is the low type of cholesterol, the bad cholesterol, so some new recommendations there.

O'BRIEN: A few moments ago you starting talking a little bit about how the risks and how they differ for men and women, that people might think of a classic heart attack or classic heart disease in men. It's actually very different from women, isn't it, or can be?

GUPTA: It is. It can be. And you shouldn't rule out the classic symptoms, certainly in women. But there are other symptoms that can sometimes be a precursor of heart disease in women, or a heart attack in women. Feelings of indigestion or backache can be one of them, dizziness, fatigue or numbness. Those are pretty vague symptoms, Soledad.

But the message, if you're a woman who has a high risk of heart disease in your family and have these symptoms that are inexplicable, get them checked out. You mentioned the classic symptoms as well; again, these are things that people should be on the lookout, women and men, pressure or fullness in the center of the chest, sort of a squeezing pain. People describe it like an elephant, chest discomfort, lightheadedness, fainting, shortness of breath as well.

O'BRIEN: Why do you think after so much now being known about women and heart disease, I mean, 10 times the number of women died from heart disease as from cancers, as you say -- that's a pretty shocking number -- that still is across the board considered a man's disease?

GUPTA: Yes, you know, I think it's a problem both on the patient, as well as the physician side of things. There's been a lot of polls on this. Only 55 percent of primary care physicians accurately identified heart disease as the number one killer of women. Only 8 percent of women did as well. That's going to be awareness.

Soledad, I know this has been a topic that you've been interested in. Awareness is a big thing. You have that spread in "Glamour" magazine, and you actually talked about that.

O'BRIEN: Are they showing that woman's chest, or are they showing her heart?

GUPTA: There you are.

O'BRIEN: Wearing a red dress, really to raise awareness for all women about heart disease. And of course the first lady, Laura Bush, was talking about that earlier as well.

GUPTA: That's right. I think this is going to be an awareness issue. Breast cancer is really on the agenda because of public service announcements, because of the interest in it. Heart diseases needs to be that was as well.

O'BRIEN: Sanjay, thanks, as appreciate it.

GUPTA: Thank you.

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 February 4, 2004 - 09:43   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: It might surprise you to know that heart disease is the leading killer of women in the U.S. The American Heart Association has just now released new guidelines specifically designed to keep women heart healthy.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us this morning to talk a little about those recommendations.

Good morning again.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

We can't talk about this topic enough. You know, I think women and doctors alike are always surprised to hear what you just said, that it is the biggest killer of women out there. More women die of heart disease than all of the cancers combined, about 10 times more than breast cancer, just to put it in perspective.

It's confusing a lot of times, in part, because sometimes the symptoms can be different, but mainly because people just haven't focused on it.

Take a look at some of the symptoms. First of all, when you think about women -- oh actually, the guidelines, the new guidelines that we just were talking about actually just released a few minutes ago. Now they are going to look like guidelines that there were there for men years ago -- 30 minutes of moderate physical activity on all days. This is for women with intermediate, high or low risk for heart disease. Evaluate for depression as well. Why? Because that's important in terms of actually seeking treatment. They find that a lot of times, if there's depression, these women won't seek treatment. Omega III fatty acids supplements, folic acid as well.

Also there are things that they don't recommend, things that women should not have. And this is also interesting, hormone therapy -- you and I have talked about that, Soledad, now an official recommendation as well by this American Heart Association. Antioxidant supplements -- we talk about that a lot as well. The American Heart Association saying not enough evidence to support that right now. Also, routine use of Aspirin in low-risk women. Don't just start taking Aspirin, because you think you have a risk of heart disease. There are dangers to that as well.

Also an interesting one I saw as well. We talk about statin drugs, the Lipitor and things like that, they're saying probably pretty good for high risk-women, even with pretty good LDL numbers, which is the low type of cholesterol, the bad cholesterol, so some new recommendations there.

O'BRIEN: A few moments ago you starting talking a little bit about how the risks and how they differ for men and women, that people might think of a classic heart attack or classic heart disease in men. It's actually very different from women, isn't it, or can be?

GUPTA: It is. It can be. And you shouldn't rule out the classic symptoms, certainly in women. But there are other symptoms that can sometimes be a precursor of heart disease in women, or a heart attack in women. Feelings of indigestion or backache can be one of them, dizziness, fatigue or numbness. Those are pretty vague symptoms, Soledad.

But the message, if you're a woman who has a high risk of heart disease in your family and have these symptoms that are inexplicable, get them checked out. You mentioned the classic symptoms as well; again, these are things that people should be on the lookout, women and men, pressure or fullness in the center of the chest, sort of a squeezing pain. People describe it like an elephant, chest discomfort, lightheadedness, fainting, shortness of breath as well.

O'BRIEN: Why do you think after so much now being known about women and heart disease, I mean, 10 times the number of women died from heart disease as from cancers, as you say -- that's a pretty shocking number -- that still is across the board considered a man's disease?

GUPTA: Yes, you know, I think it's a problem both on the patient, as well as the physician side of things. There's been a lot of polls on this. Only 55 percent of primary care physicians accurately identified heart disease as the number one killer of women. Only 8 percent of women did as well. That's going to be awareness.

Soledad, I know this has been a topic that you've been interested in. Awareness is a big thing. You have that spread in "Glamour" magazine, and you actually talked about that.

O'BRIEN: Are they showing that woman's chest, or are they showing her heart?

GUPTA: There you are.

O'BRIEN: Wearing a red dress, really to raise awareness for all women about heart disease. And of course the first lady, Laura Bush, was talking about that earlier as well.

GUPTA: That's right. I think this is going to be an awareness issue. Breast cancer is really on the agenda because of public service announcements, because of the interest in it. Heart diseases needs to be that was as well.

O'BRIEN: Sanjay, thanks, as appreciate it.

GUPTA: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com