The following is drawn from a speech given at TedxWomen this year:
THE FACTS:
1) Heart disease kills more women than ALL cancers combined.
2) 4 percent of women are diagnosed with breast cancer annually, whereas 44 percent of women are diagnosed with heart disease.
3) Even though heart disease has been called a man's disease, since 1984, more women have died annually from heart disease than men.
4) In the United States, 39,520 women died of breast cancer last year but nearly 500,000 women died from heart disease. Put another way, in worldwide figures, 400,000 women die from breast cancer, but 8.6 MILLION women die from heart disease.
5) Given these statistics, only 24 percent of participants in all heart-related studies are women.
6) For 50 years, women have been treated based on diagnostics created for men.
7) And, surveys of available data show that a very small percentage of research dollars spent in the United States focus on the treatment of women with heart disease.
WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?
What's wrong with this picture is the outrageous gender inequality that women face in the treatment of heart disease.
I consider myself a well-informed person, but when I heard these facts, I was stunned. Very few people know this. And until recently, almost no one talked about or paid attention to an epidemic that women are dying from throughout the world.
Women have made enormous strides. We've had women explore the depths of outer space, a woman has run for president of the United States, and a woman has served as speaker of the house. Yet a boys club still exists in the medical sciences. When I learned this, I knew I had to get involved and try to do something to change this picture.
I believe that those with a platform in the entertainment industry have the privilege of being able to speak out against inequality, discrimination and injustice. That's why I have chosen to speak on this issue. The number of women dying from breast cancer has significantly declined over the years because of people speaking out, sharing their stories, and the enormous amount of money that is raised for research and early detection efforts. Last year an estimated 1.7 billion dollars was raised for breast cancer alone. A small fraction of that amount was raised for women's heart disease. We desperately need the same kind of coordinated campaign.
And so, in 2008, I endowed a research and education program at Cedars-Sinai's Women's Heart Center, under the leadership of Dr. Noel Bairey Merz, who is doing lifesaving work in this field.
Throughout my life, gender inequality has always concerned me, whether it's making a movie about it or becoming involved in women's issues. And in this case, gender really DOES matter when it comes to medical science. How can you treat a woman for a life-threatening ailment based on research done on men? Especially when women's hearts are physiologically different than men's hearts. Women tend to have blockages not only in their main arteries, but also in the smaller arteries that supply blood to the heart -- a condition called microvascular disease.
Because of this, heart disease presents very differently in women than in men. 71 percent of women experience early warning signs of a heart attack with sudden onset of extreme weakness that feels like the flu -- often with no chest pain at all. Unlike the "Hollywood heart attack" we are all accustomed to seeing in movies and television where the man grips his chest and falls to the floor, most women who have a heart attack experience nausea and vomiting, sweating, and lightheadedness.
Nearly two-thirds of the deaths from heart attacks in women occur among those who have no history of chest pain. Most women do not know this and often times, by the time they enter the emergency room, their hearts have suffered substantial damage. Even if they go to their doctor, who is well intentioned, they are often misdiagnosed. I have met patients who have consulted 2 or 3 cardiologists and they are still misdiagnosed because many doctors are not given the proper training to know the warning signs in women.
Heart research done on women also helps men, as well. Take stem cell research, for example.
Recently, Dr. Merz and I were talking about the work of a colleague who is trying to grow the first human heart in a petri dish. She had a breakthrough in her study when she found out that using only female stem cells was the solution. She discovered that using male stem cells didn't work -- they got totally lost. And, as we know, men... even male stem cells... won't ask for directions.
Joking aside, the heart is an amazing organ, and first and foremost we need to focus on prevention. Women's lives are becoming increasingly demanding as they juggle the responsibilities of being wife, mother and helping to support the family. We need to take better care of ourselves. We need to slow down, reduce stress, eat better, make time to exercise... because the heart is a precious organ that needs to be protected.
Recently, I read an article authored by sociology professor, Mitch Hall. I found his insights, which are reinforced by various academic sources, really fascinating.
He wrote, "As we develop in utero, the human heart is the first organ to begin forming. In traditional Chinese medicine, the inner spiritual core of the self is deemed to reside, not in the head, but in the heart." He goes on to say, "The heart does not just pump -- what it does is listen." He suggests that the heart senses and integrates our thoughts, our emotions, and our will to carry out tasks. The heart actually is a sensitive integrator of all our experience.
Ancient cultures saw the heart as the seat of the soul. A human being has dual hearts -- the first a pulsating fist of muscle in the chest; the second, a precious cabal of communicating neurons that create feeling, longing, and love.
Many idioms attest to this 'second' heart, the social-emotional heart. For instance, sorrow is heartbreak. Sincere intentions are heartfelt. To be compassionate is to be openhearted, devoid of compassion -- heartless. To follow one's heart means to act on the basis of an intuitive sense of one's own most fulfilling option. He closes by saying, "to hearten is to encourage, and our English word courage is itself derived from the French word, coeur, meaning heart."
We can no longer afford to naively assume that heart disease is only a man's disease - because as I mentioned earlier, it's now an epidemic facing women. So I want to thank Dr. Merz for the work she is doing to help women live longer and healthier lives... women we love, our mothers, daughters, sisters, aunts, wives and friends.
Deb Roy: Best of TEDTalks 2011 #16: The Birth of a Word
Fight Heart Disease in Women - Go Red For Women
WomenHeart: Welcome to WomenHeart: The National Coalition for ...
Heart disese is studied more in men because the "burden of disease" is greater in men. That burden of disease comes not only from total numbers affected but also the age when they are affected and men are affected by heart disease a decade or more earlier than women, leading to a greater shortening of life, hence a greater burden of disease. That is standard research practice for any disease. If Ms. Streisand knows this, and she should, she should be honest and tell the truth, or if she does not know this, then she is ignorant and should spend effort to become better informed.
By the way, only women have an Office of Womens Health that offers special programs pertaining to heart disease for wormen only, so in fact, it is men who are short changed, but men's groups are working to change this. Please spare everyone your outrageous artificial complaining. It is unbecoming.
8) For every dollar spent on prostate cancer research, 6 dollars is spent on breast cancer research.
We desperately need a global campaign on women's heart disease.
Wow..! It's capitalism and free markets great in the U.S.....?
The pharmacist offered a few over the counter suggestions but MADE NO MENTION that I should consider taking my MIL to the hopsital. I should add that the pharmacy is a national chain - their pharmacists should know better!
Fortunately, an hour later I decided to take my MIL to the ER rather than wait for the over the counter meds to kick in. Within minutes, the ER staff told us she was having a heart attack. After a stent and a week in the hospital she's fine now but I am amazed at how little information seems to be available about how women "present" when having a heart attack. Symptoms can be different than those for men.
Last - I like the comment below about Dr. Dean Ornish and will be looking into his books/research on prevention.
Same thing happened to me. I started having "heartburn" one afternoon so I just drank a lot of antacid hoping that would end the pain. It didn't and I sat up all night wondering what was wrong. Early in the morning it occurred to me that my mother too had "heartburn" but she was vomiting as well, which I was not. I thought I would just go to the ER and that they would tell me I had acid reflux, give a script and I would be on my merry way. No such luck. I was told I had a very large myocardial infarction and that there had been massive damage to my heart muscle. I was also told that if I had waited another half hour to go to the ER, I wouldn't be here right now. I spent one week in the ICU, tethered to the wall.
The upshot is that I am more acutely aware when I don't feel well. For women, it is always better to err on the side of caution. I got one stent and an ICD implanted. I also suffer from congestive heart failure now.
By the way, I lost my mother at age 55 (the day she had her "heartburn") and a brother at age 40 (no warning - he just collapsed) to heart attacks. I was 49 when I had mine.
Women outlive men at every level. More men in prison, fewer men going to college, more men dying on the job, more men vitimized by violent crime, etc etc.
thank you so much for bringing this matter to the forefront. I have spent the last year going to hospital ER's, a Cardiologist and my own personal Physician for something I know is not right with my cardiovascular system.I have had the gamut of tests including Advanced Imaging of my cardiovascular system and show no signs of blockage, plaque or heart damage yet during certain times of the year(cold weather) I get bouts of chest tightness and squeezing pressure around my back. One ER doctor suggested I am suffering from Coronary Vasospasm that is causing constriction of the capillary vessels leading to the heart preventing it from getting the oxygen it needs. This usually happens during cold months and changes in bio-chemistry that causes vessels to constrict, I don't experience these symptons in summer months and am exercise tolerant, I should also add I'm a 61yr old post-menopausal woman.This type of "cardiovascular disease" mainly affects women and there's "technically" no cure but it is manageable.
I recommend women research and read up on Cardio-Vasospasms and read up on the role Magnesium plays in cardiovascular health. I have spent the last year doing extensive research on Cardiovascular disease in women and would ask that you read the below links.
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/153943-overview
http://www.life-enthusiast.com/twilight/research_magnesium.htm
Federally Funded Health Offices and Research 1970 – Present (not including cancer research) [19]
Women Only – Office, Projects and Programs 70+ – Funds – $100,000,000,000
Men Only – None – $0