Women and Heart Disease

 A Woman's Heart Attack Symptoms May Be Different Than a Man's

 
Ask most people about the most common cause of death among women and the U.S. and they probably say it's breast cancer.

In fact, it's heart disease. More specifically, it's a heart attack. Heart disease, claims more women's lives than all forms of cancer combined.

Not only do many women think heart attacks mostly happen to men, they're actually unaware that more women than men die of heart attacks each year in the U.S. 

Recent research shows that women tend not to recognize--or they even tend to ignore--heart disease symptoms. Many also don't realize that men and women sometimes experience different signs that a heart attack is coming or may be in progress.

Among 515 women in a research study done by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), 95-percent said they sensed physical their symptoms like abnormal fatigue trouble  sleeping or shortness of breath, but didn't immediately suspect that these symptoms might signal heart problems..

Although most doctors consider angina or chest pain to be the most important heart attack symptom in both women and men, fewer than 30% of the women in the NIH study reported having chest pain or discomfort prior to their heart attacks. In fact 43% said they didn't even feel chest pain any time during their attack.

The NIH study, is entitled "Women's Early Warning Symptoms of AMI," and is one of the first to investigate women's experience with heart attacks, and how this experience differs from men's.

Women's Heart Attack Symptoms Are Less Predictable

One of the doctors associated with the study, Patricia A. Grady, PhD, RN, Director of the NINR, said,

"Increasingly, it is evident that women's symptoms are not as predictable as men's. This study offers hope that both women and clinicians will realize the wide range of symptoms that can indicate heart attack. It is important not to miss the earliest possible opportunity to prevent or ease AMI, which is the number one cause of death in both women and men."

Here are the major symptoms experienced by women before their heart attack:

• Abnormal fatigue - 70%
• Sleep disturbances - 48%
• Shortness of breath - 42%
• Indigestion - 39%
• Anxiety - 35%

Here are the major symptoms women reported during their heart attack:

• Shortness of breath - 58%
• Weakness - 55%
• Unusual fatigue - 43%
• Cold sweat - 39%
• Dizziness - 39%

Women's Heart Attack Symptoms May Be Different

Women are more likely than men to have the following symptoms:

• Depressed or tense feeling, sometime described as a sense of impending doom.
• Dizziness.
• Feeling pain or discomfort between the shoulders.
• Feeling unusually weak and/or fatigued.
• Indigestion.
• Nausea.
• Recurring chest discomfort.
• Vomiting.

Unfortunately, heart attack symptoms in women are often misdiagnosed. Since time is critical in heart attack situations, it's extremely important for each women and her loved ones to be aware of the signs, and to act quickly and decisively when they appear.