2006年妇女健康调查协会出版了一本妇女健康用户指南，该协会是华盛顿特区成立的保护性组织，其使命就是通过调查、教导和支持等途径来改善所有女性的健康。指南题目是：聪慧的女病人：性别会影响您的健康吗？下面这篇心脏病章节内容摘自该指南，由协会董事会主席、医学博士Nanette Wenger撰写。
近几十年来心脏疾病和突发心脏事件基本上被看成是男性专有疾病。然而不幸的是，事情并非如此。心脏疾患每年就要夺走50万美国妇女的生命，还要比死于心脏疾患的男性多5万人。
Wenger在指南中写到：男女患冠心病（CHD）最大的不同之处是：男性死亡率在下降，而女性持高不降。自1984年以来，美国死于冠心病的女性远多于男性。另一个较大不同之处是：女性冠心病发病年龄要比男性要迟发10年或以上。心脏突发事件也称心肌梗死，女性常发生年龄可能推迟20年之久。女性较易被误诊，因为她们的临床症状多半不符和医生们熟悉的常见男性病人症状那么典型。
譬如说，虽然男女患心梗最常见的症状都是胸痛，但女性更易合并其他症状如气短、乏力、恶心以及胃疼、颈背部、腹部或肩部疼痛。女性好象都不太认为这些是心肌梗死的表现，也常常延误急救时机。
Wenger博士是Emory大学医学院心脏科教授，Grady纪念医院心脏病学主任。此外，她还是妇女健康调查协会董事主席。
“聪慧的女病人”讲解了很多健康方面和很多疾病中的性别差异，还有很多疾病的预防策略、诊断和治疗。此指南由15年来一直致力于女性健康的保护组织--妇女健康调查协会研究并出版发行，该指南详尽介绍了女性从成年到绝经和绝经以后期间可能会碰到的主要健康问题。
Heart Disease Is The No. 1 Killer Of Women
Main Category: Cardiovascular / Cardiology News
Article Date: 13 Jan 2007 - 0:00 PST
The following is an excerpt from "The Savvy Woman Patient: How and Why Sex Differences Affect Your Health," a consumer's guide to women's health published by the Society for Women's Health Research in 2006. The Society is a Washington, D.C., based advocacy organization whose mission is to improve the health of all women through research, education and advocacy. The chapter on heart disease is written by Society board chair Nanette Wenger, M.D.
For decades heart disease and heart attacks have been viewed as a man's illness. Unfortunately, nothing could be farther from the truth. Heart disease kills 500,000 American women each year. That is over 50,000 more than the number of men who die of the disease.
In the book, Wenger writes:
"One of the most important differences in coronary heart disease (CHD) is that the death rate from CHD is decreasing for men while it is constant or rising for women. Since 1984, more women than men in the United States have died each year from CHD.
Another important difference is that the first signs of CHD tend to appear about ten or more years later for women than for men. Heart attack, also called myocardial infraction, can occur as much as 20 years later in women. …Women are more likely than men to receive an incorrect diagnosis because the range of symptoms in women differs from what physicians have been taught to think of as the typical symptoms of heart attack in men.
…[For example,] although chest pain is the most common symptom of a heart attack for both women and men, women often suffer from additional symptoms than men, such as shortness of breath; fatigue; nausea; and stomach, neck, back, abdomen, or shoulder pain. …Women are less likely to recognize their own symptoms as those of a heart attack and often delay seeking emergency treatment."
Dr. Wenger is a professor of medicine in the division of cardiology at the Emory University School of Medicine. She is also the chief of cardiology at Grady Memorial Hospital. Additionally, Dr. Wenger is the Chair of the Board of Directors for the Society for Women's Health Research.
"The Savvy Woman Patient" delves into the many sex differences in health and a wide range of diseases--as well as prevention strategies, diagnosis, and treatments for those diseases. Researched and written by the respected Society for Women's Health Research and based on its almost 15 years as a research advocacy organization, this comprehensive guide provides real answers to vital questions that affect a woman's health from young adulthood to menopause and beyond.
For more information on sex-differences in heart health, or to order a copy of "The Savvy Woman Patient," visit http://www.womenshealthresearch.org.
Society for Women's Health Research (SWHR)
1025 Connecticut Ave. NW, Ste. 701
Washington, DC 20036
United States
http://www.womenshealthresearch.org
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=60694
编辑：蓝色幻想
