LOS ANGELES, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- Researchers say the ischemic heart disease, which kills more U.S. women than men, is very different from the disease typically found in men.
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center researchers say ischemic heart disease, often considered a "man's disease," often evades detection through traditional diagnostic techniques that are based on men's disease.
Cardiologist Dr. C. Noel Bairey Merz, medical director of Women's Health at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angles and chairwoman of the Women's Ischemia Syndrome Evaluation study, says when patients seek medical care for chest pain, diagnosticians typically look for a "culprit" obstructive lesion -- plaque that is blocking an artery.
But in many women, two areas of dysfunction -- one in the cells lining coronary arteries and another in the tiny vessels branching within the heart itself -- combine to deprive the heart muscle of oxygen.
Women may also describe non-specific symptoms such as fatigue, sleep disturbance and shortness of breath, according to the findings presented in a supplement to the Saturday issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
