DETROIT – There are nearly one million heart-related deaths each year. It’s evenly split between men and women, but cardiac warning signs can vary widely.
One woman raced to the emergency room multiple times before her heart disease was properly diagnosed.
Women of all ages, especially younger women, are more likely than men to develop a type of heart disease called coronary microvascular dysfunction (CMD). It’s a disease that affects the small vessels of the heart, not the large artery blockages that people are more familiar with.
It’s also more likely to be missed or misdiagnosed
Celina Gorre, the CEO of WomenHeart.org, is a heart patient herself. When neck fullness and fatigue hit hard, she headed straight to the hospital nearly a dozen times, only to be sent home undiagnosed.
“In addition to chest pain, I also had a real consistent fullness in my neck, so, I was convinced I had a blockage in my neck,” Gorre said. “The conclusion of those ER docs was that I was having a particularly hard day.”
Studies show gender makes a difference in testing and treatment. Because cardio microvascular dysfunction occurs more commonly in women, if they’re tested only for large artery disease, then CMD remains undiagnosed, but it’s an easy test.
“So, it’s very simple. It’s an additional five to seven minutes extra on top of a regular diagnostic cardiac catheterization,” said Dr. Hayder Hashim.
But testing for CMD is often not routine because it hasn’t been an official diagnosis. Hashim recently testified before the CDC in an effort to change that and he was successful.
“The CDC approved it as a diagnosis, as of October 1st, 2023, that this disease of the microcirculation of the capillaries, is now a recognized diagnosis,” Hashim said.
Good news for Gorre and countless other patients with CMD who may otherwise go undiagnosed and untreated.
Hashim and his colleagues are compiling a registry of cardio microvascular patient symptoms and diagnoses that will soon become a national database to provide more information for doctors and researchers on CMD. It will hopefully bring more awareness too.
The symptoms of CMD can vary, but the most common are chest pain, shortness of breath, and/or fatigue.
It’s treated with medications that we use to manage other heart problems, but first you need that diagnosis, which can often be difficult to get.
More: Heart Month