'Go Red for Women' campaign spotlights progress in women's heart health

CHICAGO - This month marks 20 years of the American Heart Association's national "Go Red for Women" campaign.

In that time, many lessons have been learned about women's heart health. In a Special Report, FOX 32's Sylvia Perez takes a look at the one that tops the list.

Carolyn Morris doesn't miss a beat when it's time to see her cardiologist.

"My mom, she suffered from blood clots as well, so my older brother had a stroke, my baby sister has blood clots too so. I have to be diligent. And to make sure I’m ok," said 55-year-old Carolyn Morris.

She started seeing Dr. Rupa Sanghani about five years ago when daily physical tasks gave her heart trouble.

"Just walking from here to the parking garage. My chest would hurt so bad, but it will resolve immediately at rest," Morris said.

She sometimes also had heart palpitations and was overweight back then.

So what was happening with Morris’ heart?

"No, not a heart attack but I knew something wasn’t right," she said.

It was a tricky situation to diagnose because her doctor says early test results indicated Morris was ok, despite the pain she was experiencing.

"I think the biggest lesson we’ve learned is that heart disease in women is different. The physiology, how it manifests, the symptoms," said Dr. Sanghani. "Patients can still come in with chest pain. They can even have troponin leaks or small heart attacks. But in the past, they were often blown off because we looked at an angiogram which just focused on those three largest arteries and told your heart arteries are normal."

In addition to seeing patients, Dr. Sanghani is also the director of Rush University's Heart Center for Women.

"Women still present with blockages in the three big arteries – which is the most common way – but we’re appreciating now that there’s more microvascular disease and disease in the small blood vessels of the heart, which actually comprise two-thirds of your heart circulation," said Dr. Sanghani.

Given the size of these blood vessels, it usually takes a PET scan to find the blockages that cause small vessel disease.

While the damage it can cause varies, Sanghani says all of it should be taken seriously.

"Most of the time, when it's just the small vessels, it is a smaller heart attack," said Dr. Sanghani. "Every heart attack is a heart attack. It’s still some tissue dying and it puts you at risk for heart dysfunction or a weaker pump to your heart, as well as arrhythmias later on."

So, who is most likely to develop small vessel disease?

"Any women who is at risk for heart disease is at risk for small blood vessel disease. All women are at risk for heart disease over their lifetime and heart disease affects women in every single age group. We see this even in younger women," Dr. Sanghani said.

She also says we now know that pregnancy also plays a role in determining your risk.

"We know that women who had gestational diabetes or any issue with their blood pressure during pregnancy go on later on to develop earlier incidents of diabetes and blood pressure but also have emerging risk factors for heart disease," said Dr. Sanghani.

In Morris’ case, Dr. Sanghani had to run several tests before determining her heart arteries were having vasospasms, which can affect the large or the small coronary arteries.

To help manage them, Carolyn lost weight, watches her salt intake and exercises.

"I feel better. I’m not as worried about it. But I don’t think I’m totally out of the woods either so, that’s why I don’t hesitate to call Dr. Sanghani if I feel anything abnormal," Morris said.

For the average woman who doesn't have any predisposed risk factors, Dr. Sanghani says your early 40s is a good time to ask your doctor to start checking for small vessel disease.