AMERICAN HEART MONTH: Listen to your heart

Feb. 14—CLINTON — Accounting for 1 in 5 deaths, an estimated 697,000 people in the United States died from heart disease in 2020.

In fact, according to the CDC, one person dies every 34 seconds in the United States as the result of cardiovascular disease, making it the leading cause of death for men, women, and people of most racial and ethnic groups in the United States.

A closer look at the numbers shows:

—Coronary heart disease is the most common type of heart disease, killing 382,820 people in 2020.

—About 20.1 million adults, about 7.2%, age 20 and older have CAD.

—Two in 10 deaths from CAD happen in adults less than 65 years old.

Those statistics underscore the goal of February's American Hearth Month, which is to prevent heart disease and to encourage people to be aware of heart problems and hopefully correct them before they cause a heart attack or other cardiac-related death.

One of the most important things to do is to listen to what your heart is telling you, according to Dr. Saadi Albaghdadi, a cardiologist with MercyOne Cinton Medical Center.

"When you have symptoms — you are middle age, 50 and above — I think they should attract attention and should be reported to your primary provider," he said during an American Heart Month interview with the Clinton Herald. "And if you're not sure, and it is more severe and persistent, I think you should come to the emergency room, have somebody evaluate it and don't make your own diagnosis. That could be wrong and the consequence is disastrous."

He said chest pain at any level should not be ignored.

"As far as we can tell we have been educating the populace, but you still have people sometimes they think it is not severe pain," he said, adding that the severity of the pain is not a true measure of whether a person is having a heart attack or other cardiac emergency. "It's not how severe. Severity of any discomfort really has to do with the tolerance of pain in a patient. Some people tolerate pain much more than somebody else."

Pain during physical activity is key to seeking help, he said.

"If I am doing leg work and doing some physical climbing, why is my chest hurting? That doesn't make sense," he explained. "There has to be something else going on. You have to report it and have it taken care of immediately. Dizzy or short winded or skipping of the heart — all are signs that something is wrong and the heart needs to be checked."

He said people who have diabetes, smoke, have high cholesterol, are overweight, or have a family history of the disease have an increased need to investigate a heart-related issue quickly and thoroughly rather than just blaming it on perceived indigestion or a gastrointestinal problem.

"So they blame it on this because the tendency is a denial," he said. "I don't want to know it's my heart, it's something else. It might be the stomach. How would we know? Even after you eat, if there is something wrong there has to be a reason.

"And normally people don't have a problem eating. If they do — unless they have an ulcer or something like that — there shouldn't be a reason. Bad indigestion means the heart is working hard after eating and that's why some people have symptoms after eating," he said.

"Not every chest discomfort somebody has is to do with the heart. But if somebody has a symptom they cannot explain happening recently, I think this should attract attention and have somebody check out."

He said it also is important is to get scanned and screened if older than 50, in the same way patients have screenings that include mammograms and pap smears. Stress tests are one of the most important things to do, as is calcium scoring to detect heart problems.

Doctors know what to screen for at what age, and will recommend it before problems surface, he said.

He said that often leads people to ask themselves: "I'm feeling good so why am I doing all this"?

That's the time when screenings are needed most, he said.

"You're not going to do a stress test on a patient who had a heart attack now," he said. "There is no testing to be done. You have to treat the problem, the horse is out. And you're trying to close the door and it's too late. The testing is to be done before there are any acute events."

Heart health and covid

He said even though people are relaxing covid restrictions and case counts have declined, there still are local cases. And, he said, there are those with underlying health issues who are hospitalized at MercyOne, battling covid.

"The common thread with all of those people are they have underlying heart disease, diabetes, COPD, smoking, are overweight, elderly usually, and unvaccinated," he said. "We have had some that are vaccinated and they will end up in the hospital. Those usually don't have as severe of symptoms and stay a short period of time."

So, should you get your booster?

"I would say so," he said. "It looks to me with what's going on in the planet and the small village, new viruses and strains are showing up. It looks to me like this will be like the flu. Every year you're going to have to have a vaccine for covid just like you have it for the flu. And that's fine if somebody can prevent the problem with a simple vaccine. And for my cardiac patients I tell them all to do it."