A February 10 webinar sponsored by the NIEHS Women’s Health Awareness (WHA) Program focused on the complex issue of cardiovascular disease in women.

The event – “What’s HOT in Women’s Heart Health: Keeping You Informed” – was chaired by Angelo Moore, Ph.D., WHA Steering Committee Member and Associate Director for Community Outreach, Engagement and Equity at the Duke Cancer Institute.

The objectives of the webinar were as follows.

• Identify the signs and symptoms of cardiovascular problems.
• Understand how to defend cardiovascular health.
• Learn the importance of preventing and managing hypertension.
• Help women identify the best diagnostic and treatment options for various cardiovascular diseases.

“Women’s Health Awareness works with our communities to reduce environmental health disparities and promote healthier lives for women,” said Joan Packenham, Ph.D.who runs both the NIEHS Office of Human Research and Community Engagement and the WHA Program.

Near death lesson

The first speaker was T’ebony Rosa, co-founder of the Rosa Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides educational opportunities for young people, support for parents of children with medical conditions, and other services. She described how her life changed in 2017 with the discovery that she had coronary artery disease. Rosa was 40 years old and an avid runner.

“I woke up to this terrible pressure on my chest and couldn’t walk a block without having to stop and catch my breath,” she said. One day, she felt a tingling sensation in her face and hand, and numbness in her left arm. “I had all the signs of a heart attack,” Rosa added.

“The key is not to guess how you feel or dismiss a symptom as irrelevant,” Rosa said. “It could be a matter of life or death.” (Photo courtesy of T’ebony Rosa)

She saw a doctor, but her lab tests and x-rays were normal. “I was diagnosed with acid reflux,” she said. A doctor told her she only had a 1% chance of having heart disease.

Rosa decided to have a stress test, and it turned out that she had a 99% blockage in the left anterior descending artery.

“The cardiologist told me I could die within 48 hours if I didn’t go to the hospital,” Rosa said. “So many women have died without receiving proper treatment.”

Heart disease – number one killer

The next speaker, Brandy Patterson, MDcardiologist and assistant professor of medicine at Duke University School of Medicine, said it’s not uncommon for someone to have a normal stress test and then later die of a heart attack.

“Your arteries have to be about 70% blocked for us to see any defect in blood flow,” she explained. “If the healthcare professional you are seeing does not address your concerns, you should seek alternative medical care.”

“Make the move — literally and figuratively — to take care of your body and mind to protect your heart and your life,” Patterson said. (Photo courtesy of Brandy Patterson)

Many people have the false impression that men are more susceptible to heart disease than women.

“That’s only true for pre-menopausal women,” Patterson said. “Estrogen and progesterone protect our arteries and make them more flexible and elastic. After menopause, these benefits are lost.

One in three women will die from heart disease, compared to one in 39 who will die from breast cancer, making heart disease the leading cause of death among women, she noted.

Women tend to experience different symptoms of heart disease, Patterson said. Fatigue is more common because they have more microvascular disease and a lower prevalence of obstructive coronary artery disease, which often causes pain.

Race, ethnicity, hypertension and diabetes are also important risk factors.

“The risk of diabetes is 77% higher in African Americans than in non-Hispanic white Americans,” she said. “And diabetes is associated with a two-fold increase in the risk of heart disease, stroke and cardiovascular disease.”

covid19 symptoms

Patterson said that since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, she has noticed many women with new heart conditions.

Moore is a retired United States Army Lieutenant Colonel. He has led the Duke Cancer Institute Office of Health Equity (OHE) as program manager since 2019. (Photo courtesy of Angelo Moore)

“I see a lot of post-COVID women with tachycardia [rapid heartbeat]palpitations and chest pain,” she told attendees.

Register for the next WHA conference

The 8th Annual WHA Women’s Wellness Conference will take place on April 9 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the conference will be virtual. Registration is free and is now open on the WHA website.

WHA will help participants prevent, manage and control chronic disease by providing environmental health education and chronic disease prevention resources.

(John Yewell is contract writer for the NIEHS Office of Communications and Public Liaison.)