ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, April 23, 1997 TAG: 9704230048
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHICAGO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Findings suggest that either doctors aren't treating women aggressively enough, or women aren't taking prescribed drugs.
Women with heart disease are getting far too little treatment for dangerously high levels of so-called ``bad'' cholesterol, which can lead to early death, researchers found.
The study in today's Journal of the American Medical Association found that fewer than one of every 10 female heart patients had received treatment that lowered their bad cholesterol to a safe level.
With proper treatment, researchers said 80 percent of them could have achieved safe levels of LDL, the low-density lipoprotein cholesterol that promotes fatty deposits in arteries that can cause a heart attack or stroke.
Treatment usually requires cholesterol-lowering drugs, controlling high blood pressure and diabetes, and lifestyle changes including quitting smoking, losing weight, eating properly and exercising.
Dr. Helmut G. Schrott, the lead author and an associate professor of preventive and internal medicine at the University of Iowa, said the findings suggest that either doctors aren't treating women aggressively enough, or women aren't taking the drugs prescribed for them.
``I suspect it is the first one,'' he said.
Almost half of the 2,763 women in the nationwide study were on cholesterol-lowering drugs, but only 9 percent of the total had LDL levels at or below 100 milligrams per tenth of a liter of blood, the federally recommended maximum for heart patients.
Part of the problem, said an accompanying editorial by experts not involved in the study, is that women often are believed to be less threatened by heart disease or less responsive to treatment - both erroneous assumptions.
The editorial said several studies have shown that male heart patients face a similar level of inadequate treatment, but more concern surrounds their situation because of the perceived greater risk.
Heart disease is the leading killer of women. Some 233,000 women die annually from heart attacks, 87,000 more than from strokes. The total is more than sevenfold the annual toll from breast cancer.
Dr. Dean Ornish, a heart disease prevention expert not involved in the study, disagreed with Schrott's view that inadequate treatment was behind the high levels of bad cholesterol in women.
``This study clearly shows that most people don't take their pills,'' said Ornish, adding that most patients aren't motivated long-term to take drugs that don't improve the way they feel for ``some hoped-for future benefit.''
Most women studied were overweight and sedentary; almost one in eight still smoked. Excess weight and lack of exercise promote higher LDL levels; smoking hastens the damage that excess blood cholesterol can cause, previous studies have indicated.
LENGTH: Medium: 59 linesby CNB