2008 Woodie Awards
Women slowly becoming aware of heart disease - the 'silent killer'
By: MCT
Issue date: 3/18/08 Section: Nation
FRESNO, Calif. (MCT) - Vicki Westburg made excuses for being tired and short of breath. She blamed long, stressful days on her job as a special education administrator for a weariness she couldn't shake. And she thought her labored breathing was due to asthma.
When she woke gasping for breath on New Year's Eve a year ago and her husband rushed her to the hospital, Westburg, 48, of Fresno, suspected an asthma attack.
Instead, she was stunned: Tests showed congestive heart failure. "The left side of my heart was just not functioning," she said.
Westburg is among 8 million women nationwide and more than 85,000 in California's San Joaquin Valley diagnosed with heart disease - and that doesn't include many others who don't even realize they have it.
Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women in the United States, claiming the lives of more women each year than men. But in doctors' offices across the country, heart disease in women often goes undiagnosed.
Their symptoms don't mirror those seen in men, and women tend not to recognize the warning signs, doctors say.
When she woke gasping for breath on New Year's Eve a year ago and her husband rushed her to the hospital, Westburg, 48, of Fresno, suspected an asthma attack.
Instead, she was stunned: Tests showed congestive heart failure. "The left side of my heart was just not functioning," she said.
Westburg is among 8 million women nationwide and more than 85,000 in California's San Joaquin Valley diagnosed with heart disease - and that doesn't include many others who don't even realize they have it.
Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women in the United States, claiming the lives of more women each year than men. But in doctors' offices across the country, heart disease in women often goes undiagnosed.
Their symptoms don't mirror those seen in men, and women tend not to recognize the warning signs, doctors say.
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