Women face greater risk Of heart disease in certain scenarios By KARIN LILLIS FEELING FIT EDITOR oney,you need to lose weight." That's what my dad told me during a re- cent phone conversation, just before he hung up. He also pointed out - again that heart disease runs in our family. He doesn't say it outright, but the implication is that he doesn't want me to have a heart attack - especially early in life. My Grandpa Lillis was in his 40s when he had his first massive heart attack. Dad was in his early 60s. Being female, though, places me at even higher risk in certain scenarios than the men in my family. Two studies in the news last week make that clear. Women with diabetes are 44 per- cent more likely to develop coronary heart disease than their male coun- terparts. That's the finding of a recent study by researchers from the United Kingdom, Denmark and Australia. The study reviewed nearly 50 years worth of data -from 1966-2011 - from 64 studies, more than 850,000 people and around 28,000 coronary heart disease events. Specifically, the researchers deter- mined that women who have dia- betes are three times more likely to develop coronary heart disease than their female counterparts who do not have diabetes. By comparison, men with diabetes are twice as likely to develop coronary heart disease. "Combining the two sets of data showed that women with diabetes were 44 percent more likely to devel- op CHD than men with diabetes even after consideration was made for sex differences in other CHD factors," states a news release about the study. The researchers surmise that - among other factors the rate in women may be higher because wom- en tend to be "undertreated for risk factors for cardiovascular disease." Women undergoing treatment for diabetes are "generally ... less likely to achieve treatment targets" than men. "Physicians may be more likely to recognize the early symptoms of CHD in men than women because of men's higher absolute risk, and thus sex differences in medication use and risk factor control may still exist," the authors note. "Greater awareness of early symptoms of CHD in women and sex-specific therapeutic risk fac- tor management, irrespective of the presence of diabetes, will be the best way to improve clinical outcomes in both women and men." Women who survive a heart attack before their 55th birthday face a high- er risk of complications in the fol- lowing months, according to a study presented last week at a meeting of the American Heart Association. One year post-heart attack, women are in generally worse physical and mental condition and have a "lower quality of life than men who survived their heart attack," according to a HealthDay news article published online last week. "We're definitely finding that women are generally already in worse health than men when their heart attack takes place," lead researcher Rachel Dreyer told HealthDay. Dreyer is a post-doctoral research associate in cardiovascular medicine at Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn. "We're talking about relatively young patients, so the finding is really disturbing and worrying." The study focused on approximate- ly 3,500 American and Spanish men and women, from 2008-2012. "(Women) were far more likely than men to be diabetic (39 percent versus 27 percent) at the time of their heart FILE PHOTO attack. Women were also slightly more likely than men to be obese (51 percent versus 45 percent), more than twice as likely to have had a prior stroke, and nearly three times as likely to have chronic lung disease," the HealthDay article states. "Depression was also twice as com- mon among women, the investigators found." "I would say that women may really need to focus on their lifestyle choices," Dreyer told HealthDay. "It's a conversation that women should have with their (general practitioner). These are women in the prime of their life, so it's important that they focus on their own health and prevention." So, yes, Dad. I am losing weight. I'm still not happy about ditching the chocolate ice cream, though. Stroke scare ends on high note for Elvis tribute artist By STEVE DORFMAN Cox NEWSPAPERS Like most older baby boomers, Al Maeyens remembers the first time he saw The King of Rock and Roll. "When Elvis went on 'The Ed Sullivan Show,' he changed every- thing," recalls the then-elementary schooler of Presley's breakout 1956 performances. However, the Presley persona never resonated much with Maeyens during his Indiana youth and early adulthood. "I had no strong feeling about him one way or the other," said Maeyens, 65. So, the last thing that the now-re- tired Pratt & Whitney aerospace engineer ever expected was that, in middle age, he'd become one of South Florida's well-known Elvis Presley "tribute artists." Or that he and his band the Memphis Beat would be perform- ing as stroke awareness advocates. Then again, considering the massive stroke Maeyens suffered in November 2012, the last thing most neurologists including his own - would expect is for Maeyens to still be alive. Maeyens and his first wife, who have two adult children together, moved to South Florida in 1978 when he joined Pratt & Whitney. In the late 1990s, the Palm Beach Gardens resident said that his second wife and her girlfriends enjoyed going to karaoke bars. One night, Maeyens joined them though he had no intention of singing. "I had terrible stage fright," he said, chuckling at the memory. Goaded by his companions, Maeyens eventually relented. But it was the keeper of the karaoke machine who made the fateful sug- gestion: "Based on the register of my voice, he recommended I check out the Elvis library of songs." Fellow patrons loved Maeyens' deep vocal timbre and he had a blast. A new side career had been born. Maeyens took early retirement from Pratt & Whitney shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Then, while booking several gigs per month (local fairs, retirement communities, nightclubs, etc.), he immersed himself in all things Elvis. The sideburns. The mannerisms. The biographical details. There were also a few inherent commonalities including a love of karate (which Maeyens teaches, in addition to practicing) and junk food. STROKE 117 NCHAEL R. MARKGRAF, D.D.S. General & Implant Dentistry Former faculty member of Marquette University School of Dentistry 301 W. Olympia Ave., Punta Gorda 575-2273 50469284 www.drmarkgraf.com BOARD CERTIFIED PLASTIC SURGEON 'TOP DOCTOR OBrow Lift and Eyelid SurerRS www.chrisconstance.com (941) NEW-LOOK 639-5665) CHRISTOPHER G. CONSTANCE, MD, FACS THE PATIENT AND ANY OTHER PERSON RESPONSIBLE FOR PAYMENT HAS A RIGHT TO REFUSE TO PAY, CANCEL PAYMENT OR BE REIMBURSED FOR PAYMENT FOR ANY OTHER SERVICE EXAMINATION OR CS TREATMENT THAT IS PERFORMED AS A RESULT OF AND WITHIN 72 HOURS OF RESPONDING TO THE ADVERTISEMENT FOR THE FREE, DISCOUNTED FEE, OR REDUCED FEE SERVICE, EXAMINATION, OR TREATMENT. oPage 4 The Sun /Sunday, June 8, 2014 www.sunnewspapers.net feelingfit.com ROO-