ABC Health Insider
The ABC News Medical Unit takes a critical look at the popular medical news of the day.
The Medical Unit is responsible for making recommendations to ABC News programs about coverage of medical stories, writing a daily "Medical Minute" that is sent to ABC-affiliated stations, producing a daily health program on ABC News Now, and overseeing the Health page of ABCNews.com.
RECENT POSTS
- How Can the Flu Kill You?
- Facing America's Doctor Disparity
- No End in Sight for Peanut Product Recalls
- Dr. Tim: Inside the White House Forum on Health Care
- Health Policy Experts Mull Impact of Wyeth Ruling
- Health Coverage for All -- Is It on the Way?
- This Is Your Brain on Envy
- Is a Virus Making You Obese? Fat Chance
- Video Gamers May Be 'Virtually' on Their Own
- Think Birth Control Pills Are Dangerous? Try Pregnancy
MONTHLY ARCHIVES
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | |||||
| 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
| 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 |
| 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
| 31 |
« Previous | Main | Next »
Why Heart Failure Fails to Make News
November 12, 2008 10:05 AM
By ROGER SERGEL, ABC News Medical Unit
BREAKING NEWS – New advances in heart failure.
Mute buttons are pushed. Channels are changed. There are no Web site clicks. You can hear the collective response.
“Not interested."
But heart failure affects 5 million to 6 million people and, with 500,000 new cases a year, is the leading cause of hospitalizations.
“But it’s boring. There are no sirens, no patients rolled into emergency rooms. I don’t remember seeing it on 'Grey’s Anatomy.' ”
Maybe not, but do you realize that the more people we keep alive after heart attacks, the more heart failure patients we will have.
“So what? Oh, yes, I do like those stories about patients with failing hearts who get artificial hearts or some cool device that keeps them alive. There are neat before-and- after-pictures showing how much the patient can do after getting a new heart.”
But , those devices cost $50,000 and may help only a few hundred patients.
“And I don’t get it. What is a heart failure?'
Other people wonder too. Dr. Milton Packer, a heart failure specialist from Southwestern Medical Center, says we really do not understand this disease.
So on a day like Tuesday when the American Heart Association offered the news that joyful music helps your arteries, and obese children have arteries that resemble those of 45-year-olds, the chance of any of the four major new heart failure studies getting much attention are pretty slim, even though one study had a significant finding that exercise for heart failure patients is safe.
Why is heart failure so often ignored by the press, despite the growing numbers of patients? Unlike a heart attack -- which you either fix, or you don’t -- heart failure is a slow process, said Dr. Clyde Yancy at Baylor University. Success is measured over months, not days or weeks. There is nothing immediate about heart failure.
Dr. Arthur Feldman at Thomas Jefferson was president of the Heart Failure Society from 1998 to 2000. He says the society studied the issue, and it learned the following:
1. Patients and families viewed heart failure as a death sentence;
2. Many members of the public viewed heart failure as a disease of the elderly -- not of the young;
3. Because heart failure is a collection of symptoms that can be caused by a variety of specific cardiovascular diseases, there is often confusion about the term -- and the public hates confusion.
Feldman also added that big pharma has not had any “blockbuster” heart failure drugs, and as a result any advertising would have to come from nonprofit societies.
So there are no "Viva" heart failure drug ads to raise awareness.
There are treatments for heart failure today, and heart failure primarily affects the elderly. But there are young people who develop heart failure too.
Dr. Jim Young at the Cleveland Clinic notes that we are paying attention to coronary artery disease when it is falling but ignoring heart failure, which is on the rise. “Though we have truly great treatments for heart failure, the total number of folks with the problem continues to increase (particularly those in advanced states). I think that he issue is allure -- heart failure just isn't very sexy.”
Not sexy. That’s what nearly all the heart failure specialists said.
What heart failure needs is some spokesperson, like Michael J. Fox for Parkinson’s or Joe Torre for prostate cancer or Nancy Reagan for Alzheimer’s. Breast Cancer has lots of attractive spokespeople who talk about the disease.
The heart failure people actually tried to get a spokesperson several years ago. Packer says. “The problem was anybody we found was too short of breath to talk.”
November 12, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (24)
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
I'm a physician, but I also represent the leading manufacturer of "cool devices" that were mentioned. The inextricable link between heart failure and sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is missing from this conversation. People with heart failure need to know that they could be at risk for SCA - a leading cause of death in the US. SCA is 95% fatal, but the "cool devices" are proven 98% effective in preventing SCA. If you think you might be at risk, or you've been diagnosed with heart failure, talk to your doctor.
Posted by: icdsaveslives | Nov 13, 2008 3:39:51 PM
11-17-2008
I WILL BE GLAD TO SPEAK ON A PERSONAL
BASIS ABOUT HEART FAILURE, IN ANYWAY POSSIBLE, AS A NON MEDICAL SPOKESPERSON.
IT TAKES SO MANY OF OUR LOVED ONES, RECENTLY, EVEN WITH THE BEST OF CARE OUR MOM, EVEN THOUGH SHE WAS NOT A CANDIDATE FOR HEART SURGERY..IF THE HEART FAILURE, FROM AORTIC VALVE STENOSIS, WAS NOT THERE, I AM SURE SHE WOULD HAVE BEEN WITH US FOR A GOOD
(GOD GIVEN), MANY MORE YEARS. SHE WAS SHARP, AS A TACK.
I AGREE, ESPECIALLY WITH THE MUMBERS, MORE MUST BE DONE AND WE HAVE TO BE MORE VOCAL, ESPECIALLY FOR RESEARCH-
AORTIC VALVE BYPASS-REFLEXOLOGY ETC.
IF INTERESTED, LESSONS LEARNED,
WHAT TO EXPECT AND HOW WE CAN MIGHT
DO MORE. LET ME KNOW.
THANK YOU TO ALL.
KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!
Posted by: JMD | Nov 17, 2008 2:25:17 PM
I too was diagnosed with CHF last year and I also have breast cancer. Now the thinking is that my CHF came from one of the chemos I took.
Breast Cancer gets alot of attention but the media doesn't seem to mention the fact that there is more than one kind of breast cancer, to them we are all in one neat little package.
Why can't patients w/CHF and caregivers call their local news, carry signs, start groups, draw attention like they did for breast cancer? The figures are out there! Although they (media) still have bc partially wrong it is a beginning. Why does it always have to be a famous starlett to draw attention to something? How about the average person out there that suffers from CHF? I understand but I don't.
Posted by: PT | Nov 22, 2008 1:44:00 PM
Actually, obesity is not the cause of every disease, folks. We need to stop engaging in stereotyping and in blindly accepting the bogeyman of the week, and try to discover real causes and real treatments.
I suspect that heart failure does not get the attention that cholesterol, diabetes, and hypertension do, is that the pharmaceutical companies haven't found a way to get all heart failure patients on a drug for years.
What if carbs (even the ones the establishment now proclaims to be "good") and the resulting insulin problems from eating carbs, are the real culprit? You won't see that trumpeted from the rooftops, either. Nor will you hear that lowering blood sugar by means of drugs may do more harm than good.
It's mostly about the money.
Posted by: Aggie | Dec 2, 2008 4:32:58 PM
Post a comment
