Health
Healthy, active lifestyle did not shield P.E.I. woman from heart disease – The Guardian
Julain Molnar did not believe she was a candidate for heart disease.
A former dancer, the 54-year-old Stratford woman has long enjoyed an active, healthy lifestyle.
She describes herself as a plant-based eater that is roughly 98 per cent vegan.
After lunch one day almost two years ago, Molnar experienced radiating chest pressure and slight pain.
“It could have been indigestion,’’ she recalls.
“That’s what it felt like – except it sort of didn’t.’’
She chose to err on the side of caution. She went to the hospital.
While waiting for test results, a doctor believed Molnar was likely indeed simply experiencing indigestion.
Far from the case.
Molnar’s troponin levels were elevated and her EKG was slightly irregular. She was admitted to hospital where she had another episode.
She went to Halifax for additional tests eight days later and, after much discussion and some uncertainty, it was decided that she most likely had spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD).
By the numbers
- Women are 10 times more likely to die from heart disease, stroke and related vascular conditions than from breast cancer.
- Heart attacks are more deadly for women, and women are more likely to suffer a second heart attack than men. Pregnancy, menopause and hormonal changes affect women’s risk.
- Eighty-eight per cent of spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) patients are women, many young and otherwise healthy. SCAD is the most common cause of pregnancy-associated heart attacks.
Source: Heart and Stroke
SCAD is a potentially fatal condition where the heart’s artery walls start tearing apart. Eighty-eight per cent of SCAD patients are women, many young and otherwise healthy.
In most cases, as was the case with Molnar, women have no traditional risk factors for heart disease and no warning signs. And when it happens, SCAD is often under-diagnosed because it can be difficult to detect on traditional angiograms.
After many appointments, drugs and lots of research, Molnar’s SCAD seemed to point to large amounts of migraine medication that she had taken for 15 years.
She had been prescribed migraine medication, which caused the lining of her arteries to contract. She was taking a lot more than the recommended dose per month and was unaware of the danger.
She has since drastically reduced her pain medication and has gone through four months of cardiac rehab that, she said, provided “incredible support’’ and valuable information.
“To be in a room full of people who have experienced something similar to you and to talk about it, it was very emotional,’’ she says.
Molnar is telling her story as a cautionary tale to other women.
“Consider yourself a candidate (for SCAD) no matter what – and I don’t mean be scared,’’ she says.
“I mean educate yourself …. (Women) need to know what’s possible and how to prevent it from happening or if it happens they need to go right away (to the hospital).’’
Molnar feels she is doing everything in her power to remain healthy and to prevent – or be well prepared for – another SCAD incident.
“I think the best thing to do going forward is to trust that I live a healthy lifestyle…and to trust that I know the symptoms,’’ she says.
“By investing in research focused on women, we are gaining the knowledge to save more lives and create better outcomes. But much remains to be done. Women are still paying too high a price for gaps in research, prevention, diagnosis and treatment.’’
Signs of SCAD
If you experience an episode of spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD), you may have any of these symptoms:
- Chest pain, pressure, tightness or heaviness
- Rapid heartbeat, fluttery feeling
- Pain in arms, shoulders, jaw, neck, back or stomach
- Excessive sweating
- Unusual/extreme exhaustion
- Nausea, vomiting
- Dizziness/lightheadedness
- Fainting/loss of consciousness
- Headache
Source: Heart and Stroke
Dr. Jacqueline Saw, a leading expert on spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD), says she has seen “horror stories’’ of women in their 30s and 40s turned away from the ER despite heart attack symptoms.
Saw has developed a way of helping doctors detect SCAD, and with support from Heart and Stroke, her team has identified genes that increase the risk of SCAD. Within the next five years, she expects to see genetic screening tools, much better rates of diagnosis and better treatment protocols.
The new Heart and Stroke report, released Thursday, shows funding for research on women is yielding results.
The report, called Spotlight on Women: A fighting chance, focuses on the stories of three women with life-threatening diagnoses and how new research can transform their lives as they face sex and gender challenges.
Biological differences
Anne Simard, chief mission and research officer with Heart and Stroke, notes there are real biological differences between the sexes.
“Women’s hearts are smaller, with smaller coronary arteries, and plaque builds up in their blood vessels differently,’’ she says.
“By investing in research focused on women, we are gaining the knowledge to save more lives and create better outcomes.
“But much remains to be done,’’ adds Simard. “Women are still paying too high a price for gaps in research, prevention, diagnosis and treatment.’’
To see the full report, visit www.heartandstroke.ca/mediacentre.
The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada was rebranded as simply Heart and Stroke in late 2016. Heart and Stroke is a charity dedicated to advocacy, education and the funding of research surrounding heart disease and stroke.
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Newfoundland and Labrador’s top doctor is warning people to stay up to date on whooping cough vaccinations after a small increase in cases this year.
The province usually sees three to four cases of the disease annually. Up to 10 cases have been reported already since January, however, prompting the province’s chief medical officer to raise the issue publicly.
The increase “generally means there’s a little bit more circulating in the community than what’s presenting for care and testing,” Dr. Janice Fitzgerald said Tuesday.
While officials aren’t overly concerned about a future spike in cases, Fitzgerald said, higher infection rates place infants in particular at risk.
Children under the age of one aren’t yet old enough for the whooping cough vaccine and don’t have immunity to the disease, Fitzgerald said. Infections in small children can be more severe and lead to pneumonia, neurological issues and hospitalization.
Fitzgerald said parents, grandparents and caregivers should check to ensure their vaccinations are up to date.
Whooping cough, also known as pertussis, causes a persistent nagging cough that’s sometimes severe enough to cause vomiting. Vaccines for the disease are offered in early childhood, during high school and in adulthood. Booster shots should be given 10 years after the high school dose, Fitzgerald said.
“Immunity can wane over time,” she said. “Pertussis does circulate on a regular basis in our community.”
The small increase in cases isn’t yet ringing alarm bells for undervaccination within the general population, she added, noting the province still has a vaccination rate over 90 per cent.
Download our free CBC News app to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Click here to visit our landing page.
A study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) said the opioid drug crisis has reached such a critical level that a public safety response is urgently required and that includes the need for expanded supervised consumption sites.
The report was published by the medical journal Monday and was authored by Shaleesa Ledlie, David N. Juurlink, Mina Tadrous, Muhammad Mamdani, J. Michael Paterson and Tara Gomes; physicians and scientists associated with the University of Toronto, Sunnybrook Research Institute and the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St. Michael’s Hospital.
“The drug toxicity crisis continues to accelerate across Canada, with rapid increases in opioid-related harms following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the authors wrote. “We sought to describe trends in the burden of opioid-related deaths across Canada throughout the pandemic, comparing these trends by province or territory, age and sex.”
The study determined that across Canada, the burden of premature opioid-related deaths doubled between 2019 and 2021, representing more than one-quarter of deaths among younger adults. The disproportionate loss of life in this demographic group highlights the critical need for targeted prevention efforts, said the study.
The researchers found that the death rate increased significantly as fentanyl was introduced to the mix of street drugs that individuals were using, in some cases, unknowingly.
The authors said this demonstrates the need for consumption sites, not only as overwatch as people with addictions consume their drugs, but also to make an effort to identify the substances and inform those people beforehand.
“The increased detection of fentanyl in opioid-related deaths in Canada highlights the need for expansion of harm-reduction programs, including improved access to drug-checking services, supervised consumption sites, and treatment for substance use disorders,” the authors wrote.
The study said a more intense public safety response is needed.
“Given the rapidly evolving nature of the drug toxicity crisis, a public safety response is urgently required and may include continued funding of safer opioid supply programs that were expanded beginning in March 2020, improved flexibility in take-home doses of opioid agonist treatment, and enhanced training for health care workers, harm reduction workers, and people who use drugs on appropriate responses to opioid toxicities involving polysubstance use.
In conclusion, the authors wrote that during the height of the COVID pandemic in 2020 and 2021, the burden of premature death from accidental opioid toxicities in Canada dramatically increased, especially in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba.
“In 2021, more than 70 per cent of opioid-related deaths occurred among males and about 30 per cent occurred among people aged 30–39 years, representing one in every four deaths in this age group. The disproportionate rates of opioid-related deaths observed in these demographic groups highlight the critical need for the expansion of targeted harm reduction–based policies and programs across Canada,” said the study.
The full text of the report can be found online here.
A business plan for a new BC Cancer Centre at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital has been approved by the province.
Health Minister Adrian Dix says the state-of-the-art cancer facility will benefit patients in Nanaimo and the surrounding region through the latest medical technology.
The facility will have 12 exam rooms, four consultation rooms and space for medical physicists and radiation therapists, medical imaging and radiation treatment of cancer patients.
The procurement process is underway, and construction is expected to begin in 2025 and be complete in 2028.
Upgrades to NRGH have also been approved, such as a new single-storey addition to the ambulatory care building and expanded pharmacy.
Dix says Nanaimo’s population is growing rapidly and aging, and stronger health services in the region, so people get the health care they need closer to home.
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