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Capitol Reins PR 50 heart disease is still the number one killer of women, but many don't recognize the warning signs.

That's because women experience very different symptoms during a heart attack than men.

Our Christie Dutton spoke to the director of the UofL Health Women's Heart Program, who says knowing the symptoms and taking them seriously can save your life.

More about this in today's medical news.

[MUSIC] >> Doctor Marin Shetty is here from UofL Health and we're talking about women's heart health.

Why is heart disease the number one killer of women?

Still?

>> That is a great question and thank you for having me.

I think two things.

Number one, we're not really doing a good job when it comes to awareness.

And that's why I go red for women is such a huge initiative.

But secondly, all these recent diagnostic and therapeutic strategies that we've developed for heart disease, they were done by men, for men.

So they work in men, not so much in women.

So now we really have to focus on getting answers to get the best outcomes for the women.

>> Okay.

So how are women different from men?

How are the symptoms of heart disease, different.

>> Symptoms of heart disease actually are very different in terms of presentation.

So men have the classic chest discomfort.

Feel like the elephant sitting on the chest.

Women we present more subtly, we may feel nauseous, anxious, maybe just the sense of unease for several days.

You know, fatigue that is not usual, a pain that goes from the chest to the jaw or to a tooth radiating between the shoulders.

We have all of these nonspecific symptoms.

But that's why I always say, if your body is telling you that something's not right, seek help, okay?

>> Because those symptoms do sound kind of general to a good to a lot of different things or just, you know, being a woman or go or the hormonal changes.

So talk about what are some risk factors that are specific to women.

>> We all know the big three.

So cholesterol, diabetes high blood pressure and then smoking of course.

But there are some risk enhancers now that we know are very specific to women.

Three of those start directly in pregnancy gestational diabetes, hypertension during pregnancy and preterm delivery.

So those are three.

Then cholesterol is not the only cause of plaque formation.

It's also inflammation.

And because autoimmune diseases are more seen in women.

So things like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, they can be risk factors for heart disease.

Also breast cancer therapies.

So chemotherapy or radiation directly to the chest.

And lastly depression and anxiety because the mind body axis is the is the real thing and stress definitely affects the heart.

>> Okay.

So outside of having a heart attack you know, what do we need to do before that to prevent that.

Or is there any screening.

>> There absolutely is screening.

So there's something known as a coronary artery calcium score.

It's a low dose CT almost like an x ray of the chest.

No contrast.

It's about $99 out of pocket.

And what it does is it almost takes a photograph of your heart.

And it can look for calcified plaque in the blood vessels that supply the heart.

And you detect it way before you may have symptoms, so that you can institute the preventive therapies that you need to prevent that heart attack, maybe ten, 20 years down the line.

>> So anybody can get this.

Anybody can.

Men, women, anybody.

>> Anybody can get it.

We usually recommend that you do it if you're between 40 to 70.

Because if you're younger than that then usually you don't have that calcified plaque.

But anybody can get it.

>> Just a CT scan, no side effects or.

>> You know, there's always this minimal risk from the radiation, but that's more cumulative over years.

But otherwise no because there's no contrast given.

So no damage to the kidneys okay.

>> That's really good to know.

Tell me, what is the biggest misconception women have about their heart health?

>> It's a very interesting question.

I think that they don't really understand the consequences of it.

There were a group of investigators who went to the community and asked them, what do you think is the number one killer of women?

And most women said that it's breast cancer, though actually breast cancer takes maybe 1 in 30 women, but heart disease takes 1 in 3, so they don't really understand the burden that is heart disease.

So that's why I always saw my patients know your numbers.

And if you're at risk, let's sit down, make an action plan and learn how to mitigate those risks.

>> Okay.

This is all very good information.

Thank you.

Thank you for helping us raise awareness about women's heart health.

Thank you, Doctor Shetty for being here.

>> Thank you.

This was a pleasure.