During a recent meeting of cardiologists and heart related specialists dubbed "Heart Protection Evening" held at the EDSA Shangri-la Hotel, Dr. Esperanza Cabral, one of the country’s leading heart specialists, presented the results of Heart Protection Study (HPS), the largest clinical study ever conducted on a type of cholesterol lowering drug known as the ‘statins.’
Dr. Cabral said that one of the main objectives why the Heart Protection Study was conducted was to investigate patient populations who are at high risk of heart disease but are not adequately investigated in previous trial and that included women. Among the other patient populations included in the HPS are the elderly, people with diabetes, those with non-coronary vascular disease, and those with average or below-average cholesterol levels.
Initiated by the Medical Research Foundation of the United Kingdom and the British Heart Foundation, the five-year HPS clinical trial included 20,000 patients, 5,082 of them women, which is 25% of the patient population. Previous clinical trials did not include a significant number of women.
Dr. Cabral mentioned that women particularly in our country are not aware of the greater risk of dying from heart disease than due to female cancers such as breast, ovarian and pelvic. "If you will review the number of news that had been published, one would notice that more stories came out on women dying of female cancers or women dying of AIDS than women dying of cardiovascular disease. In short, there’s more awareness on the incidence of female cancers than female heart disease," Dr. Cabral said.
According to the American Heart Association, women with a history of diabetes and coronary artery disease (CAD) run a 30-fold greater risk of dying from CHD than non-diabetic women.
Studies also show that beginning at age 50, a higher percentage of women than men have elevated total blood cholesterol level; one in five women has some of form of cardiovascular disease; one in two women will eventually die of heart disease or stroke compared with one in 27 who will eventually die of breast cancer; and women are eight times as likely to die from heart disease and stroke as breast cancer and ovarian cancer combined.
Based on a worldwide statistics, a 50-year old woman in Northern Europe has over a 45 percent risk of having coronary heart disease during the rest of her life and over 30 percent risk of dying from CHD. In comparison, a woman’s chances of having, or dying from breast cancer are ten percent and three percent respectively.
Dr. Cabral relates of a typical situation in her clinic where a husband accompanied by the wife would come in for a regular check-up. On the average, it is always the husband who would opt for medical consultation with the wife left with the decision not to go for any medical diagnosis. And more often, the interest of women is put secondary to the interest of husband or even to that of the children.
Dr. Cabral concluded her presentation by summarizing the benefits of the Heart Protection Study. "There is now basis that patients who are at high risk of cardiovascular disease particularly those who were not given adequate investigation on previous clinical trials like women, the elderly, diabetics, those with peripheral vascular disease can now benefit on the use of anti-cholesterol drug simvastatin regardless of their cholesterol levels."
Also present during the Heart Protection Evening were Dr. Eduardo Punzalan who gave the rationale and background of the Heart Protection Study; Dr. Dante Morales who presented the implications of the HPS focusing on the Philippine perspective. The panel discussion was moderated by Dr. Cesar Recto while Dr. May Anne Lim-Abrahan was tasked to handle the reaction.