Tag: women and heart disease

Heart attack misdiagnosis in women

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 65 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥  @HeartSisters

A woman attending one of my heart health presentations told me of her recent trip to the Emergency Department of our local hospital, and an overheard conversation between the (male) doctor and the (male) patient in the bed next door beyond the curtain:

“Your blood tests came back fine, your EKG tests are fine – but we’re going to keep you for observation just to rule out a heart attack”.

A male patient is thus admitted to hospital for observation in spite of ‘normal’ cardiac test results – as current treatment guidelines require.  But I and countless other females in mid-heart attack are being sent home from Emergency following ‘normal’ test results like his, and with misdiagnoses ranging from indigestion to anxiety or menopause.  Why is this?       click to continue reading

The ‘bikini approach’ to women’s health research

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 3 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas

We know that, until very recently, cardiac research for the past three decades has been done either exclusively on men, or with women represented in statistically insignificant numbers. Medical researchers have largely taken a ‘bikini approach’ to women’s health care – in which women’s health research focuses on breasts and the reproductive system.

In a recent WomenHeart interview, Mayo Clinic cardiologist Dr. Sharonne Hayes, founder of the Mayo Women’s Heart Clinic in Rochester, MN, explains:

“In the 1960s, erroneous assertions that heart disease was a man’s disease were widely spread to the medical community and to the public.  This led to research almost exclusively focused on cardiovascular disease in men.  Many clinical trials in the 70s and 80s excluded women or simply didn’t make an effort to enroll women in sufficient numbers to draw sex-based conclusions.” Continue reading “The ‘bikini approach’ to women’s health research” →

Heart Disease 101 for new patients

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 5 Comments

paint heart

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥ @HeartSisters

Confused about heart disease terminology?  Visit my patient-friendly, no-jargon glossary of hundreds of confusing phrases, abbreviations and acronyms in cardiology.  Meanwhile, here are some basic definitions you need to know about women’s heart disease:

Heart disease (or cardiac disease) is any kind of disease that affects the heart, like:

  • heart failure
  • angina (any pain between neck and navel that typically comes on with exertion and goes away with rest)
  • arrhythmia (abnormal heart rhythms)
  • valvular heart disease
  • coronary artery disease (CAD) 

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is not the same as heart disease.  Cardio refers to the heart and vascular refers to blood vessels.  CVD affects the heart and/or blood vessels: click to continue reading…