Michigan Cardiology and Michigan Heart Disease | Gheorghe Marinescu, MD

MICHIGAN CARDIOLOGY

Leading the way as one of the top Michigan cardiology and Michigan heart care hospitals with a full array of cardiac treatments and programs that set new standards for heart care every day, that's the St. Joseph Mercy Oakland way. From heart valve replacement to coronary artery bypass, our doctors are at the forefront of heart procedures and treatments.

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OF THE MEDICAL REPORT

Gheorghe Marinescu, MD

St. Joseph Mercy Oakland
Cardiologist

THE FACTS ABOUT WOMEN AND HEART DISEASE

Background

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death among American women. In fact, it kills more than half a million women each year in the United States alone – more than the next seven causes of death combined. That’s nearly twice the number of deaths due to all forms of cancer, including breast cancer. Until recently, many experts believed that cardiovascular disease was a man’s problem.

Podcast Posted: 10/30/2007
Duration: 01:00

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Understanding the risks of heart disease can empower women to live longer and healthier lives. Since women often have very different symptoms than men, it is important to know all the early warning signs. For example, women are more likely to feel shortness of breath, unusually fatigued, and generally out of sorts. Chest pain might feel like a squeezing sensation, instead of the crushing pressure typically described by men. Women often feel radiating pain in the right arm, rather than the left as men usually do. They are also more likely to have jaw and neck pain, and experience nausea and vomiting.

Women usually get heart disease at an older age than men, when the protection offered by estrogen and other hormones begins to fade. “Typically women experience atherosclerosis 10-15 years after men,” says Gheorghe Marinescu, MD, SJMO cardiologist. “Additionally, it’s difficult to diagnosis heart disease in older women. Often times it is misdiagnosed or not treated aggressively enough because of advanced age.”

The largest risk factors for heart disease are smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, diabetes, advancing age and menopause, and family history of heart disease.

Maintaining healthy levels of activity can lower blood pressure and bad cholesterol, as well as raise good cholesterol and help to prevent or control diabetes. Eating a heart-healthy diet is also essential.

Doctors may prescribe medicines for high blood pressure or high cholesterol that can reduce the risk of heart disease. Taking a small dose of aspirin regularly can help prevent heart attacks, and recent advances have made procedures to treat clogged arteries in the heart — such as angioplasty and bypass surgery — even more effective.

CAUTIONS
When women get heart disease, they fare worse than men. There are a number of factors that lead to this unfavorable outcome, including:

Medical Care:
Women wait longer than men to call for emergency medical help when they have symptoms of a heart attack.

Survival Rates:
Women are less likely to survive a heart attack than men. Also, women are more likely than men to have a second heart attack.

Smoking:
Smoking increases a woman’s heart disease risk two to four times. The combination of smoking and using birth control pills makes that risk even higher.

REFERRAL
Please call our physician referral line at 800.372.6094 to find a SJMO cardiologist in your area.

THE MEDICAL REPORT LIBRARY:

MICHIGAN CARDIOLOGY

	Carotid Artery Disease Nishit Choksi, MD Posted: 5/9/2008
	Cardiac Ablation Russell Steinman, MD Posted: 5/1/2008
	Peripheral Arterial Disease Abdul Halabi, MD Posted: 4/25/2008
	Women and Heart Disease Gheorghe Marinescu, MD Posted: 10/30/2007
	Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms Kirit Patel, MD Posted: 10/30/2007
	Aortic Valve Replacement Nicholas Tepe, MD Posted: 10/30/2007

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