“I wake up in the morning and think of heart disease and go to bed and think of heart disease,” says 49-year-old Star Colwell of Phoenix.

One heart attack, six heart catheterizations, two failed bypasses, a stent device that’s nearly closed, a radiation treatment and existing significant blockage in two coronary vessels later, the former court reporter was scheduled for yet another heart procedure Feb. 22.

“I’m still having problems, said Ms. Colwell, explaining that women’s coronary arteries and other vessels are smaller than men’s — often too small for placement of a stent, a wire mesh tube that props open a narrowed vessel.

“If they find something, we don’t know what they will do,” she said the day prior to her latest procedure. “We need new research to find things to help me.”

Ms. Colwell, who is on 11 medications and considered disabled, is an Arizona spokeswoman for WomenHeart — The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease and the Society for Women’s Health Research. The charity and non-profit organizations recently called for a redirecting of federal funds from treatment into research to better diagnose and treat heart disease in women. Through targeted research, the groups say, the number of heart disease-related deaths among women could be cut in half over the next decade.

The research should look into why women receive significantly fewer referrals for advanced diagnostic testing and treatments for heart disease than men and why women age 50 and younger are more likely to die after a heart attack than men of the same age, the organizations say.

Heart disease remains the leading cause of death for American women of all ages and kills nearly 367,000 women every year, a WomenHeart release says. Eight million American women are currently living with heart disease.

7,000 Arizona women died of heart disease in 2003

In Arizona, 7,000 women died of cardiovascular disease in 2003, and 158,000 Arizona women are living with heart disease, report studies by the American Heart Association and the Arizona Department of Health Services.

Dr. Judy Finney, a Scottsdale cardiologist, says differences in the anatomy of female and male hearts were not taught when she was in medical school in the late 1970s, but there is now is a growing awareness of those differences.

She said women’s coronary arteries on the surface of the heart can be half the diameter of men’s, and the smaller vessels that branch off the surface arteries and go to the interior of the heart are often diseased in women, but undetected through angiography.

In such cases, Dr. Finney said, the only treatment is medications.

Women tend to have different symptoms of their disease than men, such as jaw pain and often are not symptomatic until the disease is in an advanced stage. The latter, says Dr. Finney, leads to a higher death rate for women who suffer their first heart attack — 50 percent to 36 percent for men.

She said there was no research into cardiovascular disease in women 10 years ago, but progress is now being made. Male physicians are becoming aware of the problem, she said, adding that an increase in the number of women cardiologists could help.

Ms. Colwell and Dr. Finney said they agree with an assessment of the plight of women with cardiovascular disease by the Mayo Clinic.

“All too often, women with heart problems are misdiagnosed, undertreated or receive the wrong cardiac treatment altogether,” said Dr. Sharonne Hayes, director of the Women’s Heart Clinic at Mayo.

Two legislators talked about family members who had heart disease.

“My mother had a very severe heart attack when she was 62 years old,” said Rep. Tom O’Halleran, R-1. “She lived another 23 years. She was a smoker. I’ve never smoked. She had catheterization, and there was a tremendous amount of damage to her heart. Bypass was not an option.”

Bypass was an option for Mr. O’Halleran, however, when doctors discovered coronary artery disease in the 60-year-old veteran lawmaker. “As we now know, heart disease is turning into the number one killer of women,” Rep. Leah Landrum Taylor, D-16 said. “My grandmother suffered from serious and life- threatening heart attack that eventually left her wheelchair bound.

“This was an amazing hard-working woman who, after raising 15 children, went on to pursue her education at ASU, receiving her degree in social work. She was working for the Sojourner Center (a center for battered and abused women) when she had a heart attack in front of the building. Her fight and dedication was absolutely amazing.

“She lived for 20 more years after her heart attack, and I had the special privilege of caring for this great woman until she left this Earth.”

Wear Red for Women Day

Earlier this month, Sen. Barbara Leff, R-11, sponsored a resolution declaring Feb. 3 as “Wear Red for Women Day” to increase awareness of cardiovascular disease in women and “to inspire women to take charge of their heart health.”

Ms. Colwell suffered a heart attack in 2002 at the age of 45. Two coronary arteries are now 90 percent and 70 percent blocked after failed treatments, she said.

“My primary care doctors couldn’t believe I was 90 percent blocked,” said Ms. Colwell, who has changed physicians. “They didn’t know the answers to my questions,” she said. “Our arteries clog up, plaque up much faster.”

Ms. Colwell says she wonders if her early onset of arthritis at age 20 has also inflamed her heart vessels.

“They’re throwing good money after poor research or no research,” she said.

In March, the cost of Ms. Colwell’s prescription medicine will reach Medicare’s “catastrophic” level, and she will have to begin paying for them out of her own pocket, she said.

After 17 years as a court reporter, Ms. Colwell can no longer work. She exercises on a treadmill and walks a mountain trail behind her home.

“I get tired very quickly,” she said.