Contact:
Jason Merrill
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ST. LOUIS - Heart disease is the leading killer of women, and for female physicians who work in cardiology and cardiac surgery, they want women to know their risk.

“People will say to me ‘I thought most women died of breast cancer,’ but actually more women die of cardiovascular disease than all cancers combined,” says Jennifer Lawton, MD, Washington University cardiac surgeon at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis.

Statistics indicate a woman's risk of breast cancer is trivial compared to their risk of heart disease as around 500,000 die annually from heart disease and 41,000 die from breast cancer. In addition, a 2007 study by the Society for Women’s Health Research in Washington, D.C found breast cancer is the disease women fear most.

Dr. Lawton says such lack of awareness can be deadly, "People do not appreciate that cardiovascular disease is the number one killer of women in this country."

February is National Heart Month, and Barnes-Jewish Hospital is joining the American Heart Association’s “Go Red for Women” campaign. On pedestrian bridges crossing Forest Park Parkway and Barnes-Jewish Plaza on their medical center campus, passers-by will see new signs in the windows saying that Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University have gone “red for women.”

It’s an important message to send, as experts say heart disease can affect women of any age.

“One of the misconceptions is that premenopausal women are protected from heart disease, but it affects women who are premenopausal as well,” says Jane Chen, MD, Washington University electrophysiologist at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. “In fact, one of every 9,000 heart attacks occur in women less that 45 years old.”

While no one would argue the importance of cancer screening, some physicians feel the same urgency doesn't always apply to heart disease.

"People think of getting their mammogram to prevent breast cancer, yet they might not take chest pain as seriously," says Dr.Chen.

Dr. Lawton and Dr. Chen say it's important to know heart attacks in women actually feel different than they do in men.

"Oftentimes women do not present with the same symptoms that men do and therefore they are not diagnosed with heart disease early on," says Dr. Lawton. "Women typically don’t have the same symptoms that we think of as a classic heart attack – those would be crushing chest pain, shortness of breath – and women often present with symptoms such as heartburn, fatigue or nausea and therefore they don’t think they’re having a heart attack."

Dr. Lawton says women can reduce their risk of heart attack -- even if they’ve already been diagnosed with heart disease – by following five key steps:

• Stop smoking
• Lower high blood pressure
• Lower cholesterol
• Aim for a healthy weight
• Be physically active each day

"In women it’s important to stress risk factors and lifestyle modification," says Dr. Lawton. "We don’t exactly know why more women die from heart attacks, so we need to focus on prevention of the disease and focus on the risk factors. Also, we need to urge women to ask questions when they go to their doctors about heart disease and their symptoms."

Dr. Chen agrees, "The level of awareness needs to be raised not only for the patients, but the patient's family and they need to be aware that assessing heart disease is just as important as an annual mammogram."

They add efforts like the Heart Association’s "Go Red For Women" campaign have gone a long way in recent years of raising awareness. For more information about heart disease, call toll free at 314-TOP-DOCS (314-867-3627) or toll free 1-866-867-3627