Heart of the matter

Women are less likely to be diagnosed with heart disease than men, and less likely to get best treatment. Researchers are struggling with old stereotypes to right the balance.

- BY NIKI BEZZANT

When asked to name the No 1 killer of women, many of us might take a guess and go with cancer. The received wisdom is that we need to be on the alert for breast changes or perhaps gut issues that might be signs of bowel cancer.

In fact, what kills more women than anything – at the rate of eight a day in New Zealand – is heart disease. Much the same as for men.

The way women experience heart disease, though, is not the same as men. And this perception – by people of all genders – that heart disease is a man’s illness is likely to be hurting women.

Susan McIntyre knows how this feels. At 42, fit and healthy, her heart was the last thing on her mind. “I was busy,” she remembers. “I had two young kids. I should have gone to the doctor earlier, but I just thought I had the flu.”

Her doctor thought so, too. Until she didn’t get better. After some follow-up blood tests, the Christchurch teacher received a disturbing phone call.“My doctor called me on a public holiday and said: ‘You need to go to the hospital. Don’t have a shower, don’t pack a bag, just go to the hospital. Don’t muck around and don’t walk up any stairs. Just go. They’ll be expecting you.’”

McIntyre had endocarditis, an infection in her heart. “That was bad enough and scary enough. And then, when I was in hospital having that treated, they scanned my heart and went, ‘Oh dear, this is not looking good.’ Then they found I actually had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.”

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a genetically linked condition, often with no symptoms, which can cause sudden heart failure. McIntyre’s was probably caused by an inflamed wisdom tooth, which sparked the infection that travelled to her heart, and the thickened wall of the heart muscle created a tiny nick in her mitral valve: enough for the infection to take hold. She considers herself lucky to have a GP who recognised there might be a heart link to her symptoms.