Huntington Hospital has launched a comprehensive Women’s Heart Program to focus on the alarming rate of cardiovascular disease in women. The Program will use a multidisciplinary approach to educate women about heart disease, provide them with an assessment of their risk, and ensure that they have access to the prevention, diagnostic, and treatment services they require.

The Women's Heart Program Team

Heart disease is the leading cause of death for women in the United States, claiming half a million lives each year, more than the next six leading causes of death combined. Yet despite the prevalence of cardiovascular disease in women, many women remain uninformed about their risk.

“In my practice, I frequently meet women who accompany their husbands to their appointments and are well aware of the risk of heart disease in men, but completely unaware of their own cardiovascular risk factors,” said attending cardiologist Salvatore Trazzera, MD, Associate Director of the program.

Based on his experience and that of his colleagues, a multidisciplinary Women’s Heart Council was formed at Huntington Hospital. The Council formalized the Women’s Heart Program this year.

Since 1984, heart disease has annually claimed many more women’s lives than men’s. Alarmingly, the rate of cardiovascular disease is significantly higher among African American women than white women.

“Studies have borne out the fact that not only are women uninformed about their risk for cardiovascular disease, but in many cases healthcare professionals themselves may underestimate the risk,” said Marc Hazan, MD, Chief of Cardiology and Associate Director of the Women’s Heart Program. Dr. Hazan noted that this lack of awareness might result in delays in diagnosis and treatment, which could have lifethreatening implications for women.

Part of the problem lies in the fact that the symptoms of heart attack are often different in women than in men.

“Physicians and nurses who have been trained to recognize the classic symptoms of a heart attack – chest pain or tightness, and pain radiating to the jaw or down the left arm – might not be familiar with the more subtle symptoms that many women experience,” said attending cardiologist Brian Strizik, MD, a member of Huntington Hospital’s Women’s Heart Council.

Some women do experience typical heart attack symptoms, while others complain of feeling light-headed or dizzy, or experiencing abdominal pain or nausea.

The goal of the Women’s Heart Program is to address the issue of cardiovascular disease before a heart attack occurs. The main mechanism for doing this will be to offer women a cardiovascular risk assessment (CRA). This consists of a simple questionnaire that women complete in a few minutes.
Answers to a series of questions about current health status, personal and family history, physical activity, smoking, weight, exercise, diet, blood pressure, and other factors are fed into a specialized computer program for analysis. A Women’s Heart Program staff member reviews and discusses
the results with each woman who completes a CRA. Specific recommendations for prevention, further diagnostic testing, or treatment may be made. Those who require further intervention will be provided with a referral to the appropriate clinical resources.

“The risk assessment provides a personalized snapshot of a woman’s cardiovascular health,” said attending cardiologist Marc Weinberg, MD, who is also a member of the Women’s Heart Council. “It can help a woman determine areas in which lifestyle changes can have a beneficial impact on her health in order to prevent or delay the onset of cardiovascular disease.”

Risk assessments are available to women of all ages.

“Experts now realize that many of the factors that place a woman at risk for cardiovascular disease may begin in her 20s, 30s or 40s,” said adult nurse practitioner Carol Patrick, RN, ANP, a member of the Women’s Heart Council.

Education is another major facet of the Women’s Heart Program. Free community lectures on topics related to women and heart disease are regularly presented by experts in the field. In addition, Women’s Heart Council members have made a commitment to participating in professional educational activities in order to ensure that physicians, nurses, and other healthcare professionals are as knowledgeable as possible about the causes, symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment of cardiovascular disease in women.

“Huntington Hospital has all of the elements in place to ensure that women who are found to be at high risk for cardiovascular disease, as well as those diagnosed with heart disease, have access to state-of-the-art diagnostic, treatment, and support services.” said nurse practitioner Margaret
Krepp, MSN, ANP. As part of the program, a comprehensive directory of cardiovascular resources within the Huntington community is being developed.

“Our intention is to raise awareness about the prevalence of cardiovascular disease among women so that we can increase the rates at which we make early diagnoses. This will enable us to offer more effective treatments and ultimately save lives,” Dr. Trazzera concluded.

To learn more about the Women’s Heart Program, or to schedule an appointment for a personalized risk assessment, please call (631) 760-2128.

Oct 2005 Healthline