Heart Disease: Everything You Need to Know by Robert Myers, MD. Ontario, Canada: Firefly Books; 2004. Paperback, $14.95.
This new book, Heart Disease, by Canadian cardiologist Robert Myer, MD, is useful reading for anyone, but in particular for people with heart disease and their families. I read the book a week after my mother-in-law had major open heart surgery. My goals were to see what I could learn and to assess if the book would be useful to her. Both goals were successfully accomplished.
In a world that has and continues to struggle for gender equality, unfortunately, heart disease is now an area in which women are rapidly catching up with men in the prevalence of this serious health problem. Often, the initial symptoms of heart disease are overlooked or attributed to less significant causes. A useful feature of this book is that it discusses basic information about the heart, heart disease, risk factors, medical tests and treatment, rehabilitation, and patient responsibilities.
Specifically, Dr. Myer clearly describes the structure and function of the heart. He uses simple pictures to illustrate his points, and each picture is limited in detail to the point being discussed. This is a practical book. For example, he begins by talking about those risk factors that are inevitable versus those that can be altered by a person's habits and behaviors. In some chapters, he offers "tidbits" of information, some of which are more helpful and connected to the theme of the chapter than others. For example, when he talks about hot tubs and heart disease, I found the connection clear. In contrast, when he later talked about hypochondria and Munchausen syndrome, I thought the connection to the chapter theme was less clear, and this example might even lead people to think they should ignore their symptoms, less they be thought to be a hypochondriac. Also, his example about randomized studies may be more information than the layperson needs or wants to know.
The beauty of this book is its clarity of explanation and the practicality of the information. For example, the discussion of risk factors for heart disease and the guidelines on how to modify them are especially well done. He gives clear, concise descriptions of the diagnostic tests in the order in which they are typically used to make a definitive diagnosis.
Dr. Myer discusses each type of coronary surgery and often uses clear and interesting clinical examples. People should be able to identify with the examples. He also deals directly with the fears and apprehensions that people with heart disease have especially regarding surgery. Likewise, his description of the pros and cons of each type of treatment is straight forward, and he does not hesitate to list the risks of each.
On a few occasions he comments on the difference in frequency of surgery in the United States versus Canada and attributes this to the differing reimbursement systems.
Themes throughout the book are on health promotion and personal responsibility for preventing, recognizing early heart disease and changing behaviors to reduce risks and improve the chances of successful rehabilitation. I liked his use of simple analogies that are easy to visualize such as comparing the working of a heart valve with the closing of a door.
In chapter 11, he talks about complementary cardiac medicine. He conveys a negative tone toward the proponents of complementary medicine and does not really present the pros and cons in this instance. Overall, the book is well done and would be useful reading to almost anyone, but it is especially useful for patients who are at risk for or suffer from heart disease and for their families.