Heart Attacks in Women:

survival statistics:

Women and heart disease:

surprising statistics:

Many think of heart disease as a man's disease. One of 30 women die from breast cancer. One of 3 die from heart disease. Women 55 and older have the same lifetime risk of cardiovascular disease as men (1). What about younger women? The death rate among women aged 35 to 44 has been increasing by 1.3% every year since 1997.

Gender differences:

Compared to men, more women die in the hospital after a heart attack, in the first 30 days after a heart attack, the first year, 5 years and 8 years. (3) For details, watch the video above.

Why are heart attacks more dangerous for women?

Women, who have smaller coronary arteries, may experience odd, atypical symptoms of coronary disease more often than men. By atypical symptoms, we mean unusual types of chest pain or fatigue or shortness of breath or nausea, compared to the more typical left-sided crushing chest pain men have.

Women, who tend to have heart attacks older, are more likely than men to die within the first few weeks after a heart attack (3). Also, if heart symptoms are unusual, women may suffer from delayed diagnosis.

mammograms and heart disease:

In a study published in 2011, a woman's risk of developing coronary heart disease within 5 years was 3.5x higher if there was calcium in breast arteries seen on a mammogram, compared to the risk of a woman without calcification. Other risk factors like hypertension (2.8x), high cholesterol (2.4x) and family history (1.7x) were not as strongly predictive as mammogram artery calcification (7). In a more recent study, 43% of women were found to have calcium in the breast arteries on mammography, and 67% of those also had calcium in the coronary arteries on CT scan (8). That's a picture of calcium in the heart arteries. Calcium in arteries shows up as white spots. Normal arteries have no calcium.

Currently there are no established guidelines for reporting artery calcification by radiologists who read mammograms. Guidelines will be necessary, because some breast arteries have more and some have less. If Dr. Margolies (8) method for quantifying breast artery calcification is validated in larger studies, then guidelines will be possible. And the published studies (9) are much to small for any scientist to recommend using mammograms to screen for heart disease.

So...in this moment in time between small studies that look promising and the larger studies that haven’t been done yet: Here's an idea: When you get your mammogram, ask the technician to write this note to the reading radiologist: "Please report any calcium deposits you see in my breast arteries."

If your mammogram shows calcium deposits in the breast arteries, what should you do? First, talk to your doctor. Secondly, consider getting a heart calcium scan to determine whether there is also calcium in your heart arteries. Although it is common as we age, calcium in arteries is not normal. It is a sign of inflammation and artery disease. We believe that it should be rigorously evaluated.

CV disease kills 10x as many women as breast cancer.

What else can you do?

Get informed about this dangerous killer. Watch the trailer of the movie “The Widowmaker” by clicking on the link below. It can be purchased on Amazon.

how much risk do I carry?

Almost two-thirds of women who die suddenly from heart disease have no idea they are at risk. (3)

Don’t find out by having an event. Don’t become a statistic.

get tested

The time to get tested is before you have symptoms.

We test 9 arteries and the heart attack gene to determine what level of risk you carry. If artery tests show inflammation, we can help you answer the most important question you can ask:

what’s causing the inflammation in my arteries?

Our culture focuses on cholesterol and blood pressure. But there are over 20 modify-able risk factors for heart disease and strokes.

Which ones haven’t been tested?

We test all of them.

Once you know what’s causing the inflammation, you’ll know what to do about it.

Once you see your arteries improving, you’ll be glad you came to Atlanta.

know someone who survived a heart attack?

We have a 100% survival rate after the heart attack.

Send them the link to this page, or to our web page: www.cardiosound.com/heart-attack-survivors.

You might save someone's life.

References:

1. This prospective population-based study in the Netherlands followed 8400 adults for 21 years who were 55 and older with no baseline CV disease: Leening, et al. Sex differences in lifetime risk and first manifestation of cardiovascular disease: Prospective population based cohort study. BMJ 2014 Nov 17;349:g5992

2. Benjamin, EJ, et al, Heart Attack and Stroke Statistics-2017 update. Circulation 2017 Mar 7; 135(10): e146-e603.

3. Virani, et al, Heart disease and stroke statistics- 2020 update: a report from the American Heart Association. Circulation. Mar 3, 2020. 141;9

4. Caring for a spouse with cancer is associated with a 15% risk of heart attack and a 25% risk of stroke. Jianguang Ji, et al. Increased risks of coronary heart disease and stroke among caregivers of cancer patients. Circulation 2012; 125(14):1742-1747

5. One divorce increases a woman’s heart attack risk by 30%. Remarrying increases risk by 40%. Having a second divorce doubles the risk. Dupre, et al. Association between divorce and risks for acute myocardial infarction, Circulation: Cardiovascular quality and outcomes. doi: 10.1161/circoutcomes.114.001291

6. Cholesterol Treatment Trialists' Collaberation. Efficacy and safety of LDL-lowering therapy among men and women: Meta-analysis of individual data from 174,000 participants in 27 randomized trials. Lancet 2015 Jan 8. (epub: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(14)6138-4

7. Schnatz PF et al. The association of breast arterial calcification and coronary heart disease. Obstet Gynecol 2011 Feb; 117:233

8. Margolies, et al, Digital Mammography and Screening for Coronary Artery Disease, J Am Coll Cardiol Img. 2016;(9:350–60):. doi:10.1016/j.jcmg.2015.10.022

9. Angela J. Ryan, et al, Breast arterial calcification association with coronary artery calcium scoring and implications for cardiovascular risk assessment in women. Clinical Cardiology. 2017;40:648–653 DOI: 10.1002/clc.22702