There's a silent killer among women and it's called coronary heart disease. According to the American Heart Association it kills twice as many women than from all types of cancer combined.

For National Heart Awareness Month, Long Beach Memorial will help women better understand how to avoid being a statistic during its annual Women's Heart and Stroke Seminar.

Memorial is one of the first in the region to offer a place where women can receive a full cardiac workup and screening and education on risk factors, said Dr. Peggy Kalowes, RN, PhD, CNS, MemorialCare Center for Women's Cardiac Health and Research at Long Beach Memorial.

"While most people know that heart disease is the number one killer of women, what is less known are some of the most important factors in preventing, recognizing and treating heart disease," Kalowes said. "For instance, many women are unaware that three out of five heart attacks have no symptoms, meaning it's not uncommon for heart attacks to go undetected in women for years. It's also not widely known that the symptoms of a heart attack can differ between men and women."

Recognizing those difference are very important, Kalowes said.

"The classic symptoms of a heart attack are discomfort or heaviness in the arm or chest," she said. "While these symptoms are commonly experienced in men, women tend to experience fatigue, chest pain and shortness of breath."

According to Kalowes, men and women can

"Men tend to have large coronary obstructions, while women have microvascular disease, which affects the heart's smallest blood vessels coming off of the coronary arteries. These arteries provide blood supply to the heart muscle," she said.

As women grow older the risk for heart disease and stroke rises, and continues to rise with age, according the AHA.

"Women with a family history of heart disease or other risk factors should start annual heart screenings at the age of 35," Kalowes said. "Regardless of risk, all women over the age of 45 should be seen annually by their primary care physician for a heart screening, which should include heart health history for risk stratification, cholesterol, glucose and blood pressure tests, and height and weight measurements to determine body mass index (BMI)."

Having a baseline electrocardiogram, which measures the electrical activity of the heartbeat, can save lives, Kalowes said.

"Women with risk factors also need to start yearly electrocardiograms, or EKGs, at the age of 45, to identify old heart attacks that may have occurred, many woman may have had no symptoms," she said. "Old, undetected heart attacks are something we've seen in patients in the Center for Women's Cardiac Health and Research."

During the seminar women, will be able to participant in heart and stroke screening.

"At the seminar, the Long Beach Memorial nurses and clinicians will provide women with heart and stroke screenings consisting of blood pressure, cholesterol and non-fasting blood glucose tests, along with a carotid artery ultrasound," Kalowes said. "The blood cholesterol test examines the total cholesterol and the good (HDL) and the bad (LDL) cholesterol, which are important treatable risk factors that can be modified by diet, exercise and medication."

The carotid artery ultrasound testing will look for blockages in the arteries that carry blood from the heart to the brain.

"If these arteries are clogged, a stroke can occur," Kalowes said.

Heart disease can be extremely preventable. Kalowes said.

"There are many things both men and women can do to maintain a healthy heart," she said.

Eat a well-balanced diet that includes fresh fruit, vegetables, lean meats, whole grains and dairy, and cut back on foods with high dietary cholesterol and limit foods with trans fat, she said.

"Next to a healthy diet, lifestyle changes, such as at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity most days, can help prevent heart disease," Kalowes said. "If you are a smoker, your risk of heart disease increases with the number of cigarettes you smoke and the amount of time since you first began. However, even a longtime smoker can significantly improve their heart health after quitting."

For more information go to www.memorialcare.org/long_beach

pam.hale@presstelegram.com, 562-499-1476