By Steve Gamel Photo by Chris Bigenho Photography
Picture this, ladies: You’ve stayed on top of your health, getting regular checkups, monitoring your cholesterol and blood pressure, and following your doctor’s advice. Maybe your numbers were elevated, but there didn’t seem to be much to worry about. So, you carried on with life. Years later, you start noticing symptoms that don’t feel right — discomfort, fatigue, or something you can’t quite explain. You trust your instincts and seek care. At first, you’re told it may be stress or anxiety. But deep down, you know your body, and you persist. Eventually, you experience a heart attack — something you never expected, especially after being diligent about your health.
While this isn’t every woman’s story, far too many have faced similar situations. They sensed something was off with their heart health and later wished they had pushed for answers sooner. That’s why raising awareness and encouraging self-advocacy is so important. Early detection and prevention can change outcomes.
“This happens too often — you think everything is fine, but years later, poor cardiovascular health surfaces,” said Dr. Anandita Kulkarni, regional medical director of cardiovascular disease prevention and cardio-obstetrics at Baylor Scott & White The Heart Hospital – Plano. “It’s a false sense of security, and the downstream consequences are startling.”
Dr. Kulkarni added that not only are women under-treated for heart disease, but in 2016, Harvard Medical School published a statement finding that even after accounting for age, within a year of a first heart attack, survival rates are lower in women than in men.
Within five years, 47% of women will die, develop heart failure, or suffer from a stroke, compared with 36% of men.
“Baylor Scott & White The Heart Hospital wants to be at the forefront of changing the narrative around how women’s cardiovascular health will be moving forward,” Dr. Kulkarni said. “It’s also every woman’s opportunity to change the narrative after years of others putting doubts in their minds. Know your risk factors, advocate for yourself, and share this information with friends and family so we can spread the word.”
Prevention Is the Heart of the Matter
Preventing heart disease is a way of life. That’s why Baylor Scott & White The Heart Hospital — Plano created the Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention. The first of its kind in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, it focuses exclusively on a growing subspecialty in cardiology: prevention. Their nationally renowned team focuses on identifying risk factors for heart disease before they become severe or life-threatening to promote improved heart health. But even more unique is the center’s focus on women and heart disease.
Almost as many women as men die each year of heart disease in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In fact, heart disease is the number one killer of women in the U.S. and often presents differently as compared to men — both in symptoms and risk factors. For instance, one risk factor that has been identified is the relationship between pregnancy complications and heart disease. Pregnancy is like a stress test on the body while a woman is growing a fetus. But until now, pregnancy complications like gestational diabetes or high blood pressure were treated as isolated pregnancy-related events.
They weren’t seen as indicative of a woman’s heart health later in life. However, diabetes and high blood pressure are two of the leading indicators of heart disease outside of pregnancy. Other risk factors women have historically been under-treated for include recurring miscarriages, gestational diabetes, and even breast cancer.
Dr. Kulkarni and her team are committed to creating interventions to prevent women from developing the disease.
“This is a significant shift in the paradigm because, in the past, a pregnant woman with preeclampsia or gestational diabetes would simply deliver her baby and go home,” she said. “Rarely was there talk about the downstream consequences of those issues. Now, we are trying to catch women earlier. We want to educate them on their risk factors and how to optimize them before they leave the hospital. We want to create better outcomes for women and their health later in life.”
Educate, Advocate, and Empower
Dr. Kulkarni and the rest of the team at Baylor Scott & White The Heart Hospital – Plano want women to seek out care if they are considered high-risk for heart disease. At the forefront of that charge is education. If you asked the average person to describe what a heart attack looks like, chances are they would picture a middle-aged man grabbing his chest. However, women don’t always present with chest pain when having a heart attack. In addition to chest pain, symptoms of a heart attack in women often include pain in the neck, jaw, or throat, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, and pain in the upper abdomen or back.
Equally crucial as recognizing symptoms is focusing on prevention through early screenings and regular checkups with your primary care physician. Women should meet with their doctor regularly and know and understand their vitals in key risk areas. In addition, the American Heart Association published what it calls Life’s Essential 8 — a detailed checklist for improving and maintaining cardiovascular health to lower the risk of heart disease, stroke, and other major health problems.
These eight touch points include eating better, being more active, limiting tobacco usage, getting more sleep, managing your weight, controlling cholesterol, managing blood sugar, and monitoring blood pressure.
No matter your risk for heart disease, it’s important to know that you can do things right now to fight it. You can make a big difference in your overall risk by making lifestyle adjustments, knowing your family history, and seeking consultation from experts like those at the Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention.
Physicians provide clinical services as members of the medical staff at one of Baylor Scott & White Health’s subsidiary, community, or affiliated medical centers and do not provide clinical services as employees or agents of Baylor Scott & White Health or those medical centers.
CONTACT
Baylor Scott & White The Heart Hospital – Plano
1100 Allied Drive, Plano, Texas 75093
(469) 814-3278 | BSWHealth.com/HeartPlano
Life’s Essential 8 includes the 8 components of cardiovascular health:
healthy diet, participation in physical activity, avoidance of nicotine, healthy sleep, healthy weight, and healthy levels of blood lipids, blood glucose, and blood pressure.
