Health hotline to focus on heart disease among women

Cupid's arrow piercing a heart has become an iconic symbol of Valentine's Day, but it could also symbolize the fact that more American women die of heart disease than any other ailment.

Heart failure, its symptoms and treatment, is the topic for this month's Deseret News/Intermountain Healthcare hotline. Saturday, from 10 a.m. to noon, cardiologist Dr. Deborah Budge and cardiac nurse James Neider, both with the heart failure prevention and treatment program at Intermountain Medical Center, will answer questions during a free call-in program.

From the Salt Lake area, call 801-236-6061. Elsewhere, the toll-free number is 1-800-925-8177.

"Women are not as aware of their own risk factors as men," Budge said. "Here in Utah, women are very good at taking care of their families and others, but they may not pay enough attention to their own health."

"More women die of heart disease than of breast cancer," but women are not as aware of their risk for the former, she said. Men are regularly advised — often by their wives, mothers or girlfriends — that they need to pay attention to their blood pressure and their cholesterol intake. The advice doesn't seem to go the other way as often.

Many of the common causes of heart failure originate with diseases related to lifestyle: coronary artery disease precipitated by smoking, obesity or a high cholesterol diet; and diabetes, much of which is related to diet and lack of exercise.

Yet 25 to 30 percent of patients Budge sees at Intermountain Medical Center fall into the category of "idiopathic" heart failure, which means the cause is unknown.

"It's possible that it may be related to past viral infections, but we're not sure." About one-fifth of the cases with an unknown cause are thought to be genetic, she said. "That's something we're starting to examine. In some families, there are multiple family members with heart failure."

Familial dilated cardiomyopathy (FDC) primarily affects the heart, causing dilation that impairs the pumping function of the left or right ventricle. It is the most common form of heart failure not related to coronary artery disease and occurs more frequently in men than in women.

It is most common in patients between the ages of 20 and 60, and about one in three cases of congestive heart failure is due to dilated cardiomyopathy, which also occurs in children. Budge and her colleagues are now formulating a study of FDC, in conjunction with researchers at the University of Miami, designed to examine the genes of first-degree relatives of people with the condition. "We'll be collecting blood samples and doing EKGs, looking for heart failure symptoms they may not be aware of."