How Women Differ From Men: Heart Disease
by Jennifer Bunn, RNConsider the following statistics: 1 in 3 women will die of heart disease, 450,000 women per year die from cardiovascular disease and only 1 in 5 women believe that heart disease is the biggest threat to their health.
Heart disease has been thought of as a disease affecting mostly men for so long that changing this perception is difficult. The fact is, heart disease now kills more women than men, but women often experience different symptoms than men and often develop heart disease later in life than do men. The rise in obesity, diabetes and the numbers of women who smoke are thought to be the reason for the changing demographics of heart disease.
Women’s symptoms of a heart attack are often different than the “classic” presentation. Men often experience crushing chest pain; women are more likely to complain of discomfort in an area other than their chest, such as the jaw, the abdomen and the arms. They may also complain of feeling exhausted and short of breath.
Women are also treated differently in hospital, according to some studies. They may be less likely to be put on aspirin therapy and to have their cholesterol as aggressively managed as men do. The good news is that women are surviving heart attacks in greater numbers. This may be a case of closing the barn door after the horse has escaped- women need to understand their personal risk factors for heart disease and seek counseling from their personal physicians on prevention strategies.
Source: Diagnosis dilemma: Women’s heart symptoms differ from men
