Think you’ll never have a heart attack because you’re a woman? Think again. Last year almost 500,000 women died from having a heart attack – a number that will replicate itself this year, too. Although women tend to have a heart attack 10 years later than men do, odds are that women are more likely to die than men, according to WCVB 5 Boston.
As previously reported by the Inquisitr, women who have heart attacks are not always taken seriously, since it’s perceived as a man’s disease. A woman even died after a police officer in Florida neglected to respond to her 911 emergency call in which she stated she was having a heart attack.
71% of women mistake early warning signs of heart attack for something else: http://t.co/qaHhpJH9RK http://pic.twitter.com/eEXdO4Lsfc
— Texas A&M HSC (@TAMHSC) May 5, 2015
But according to Dr. Loryn S. Feinberg, MD, FACC, a cardiologist and medical director of the Women’s Cardiovascular Health Program in the CardioVascular Institute at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, research shows women are more likely to die from a heart attack, “and they are also more likely to have another heart attack within five years following the first one. Women generally begin to experience heart disease symptoms and events about 10 years later than their male counterparts. The average age for women’s heart attacks is usually late 60s and early 70s.”
According to the American Heart Association, signs you might be having a heart attack include uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain in the center of your chest, in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw, or stomach, even if it lasts more than a few minutes, or goes away and comes back. You might also experience shortness of breath with or without chest discomfort, break out in a cold sweat, or feel nauseous or lightheaded.
Although the most likely symptom is chest pain, women are more likely than men to experience some of the other common symptoms, such as shortness of breath, vomiting, and back or jaw pain. According to Dr. Feinberg, “a recent study has found that while women may present different symptoms at times, 90 percent of both men and women have chest pain as the main symptom of a heart attack.”
“This discomfort doesn’t have to be severe pain, it can be pressure that radiates up to the neck and may move into the back or shoulders or down the arm. Shortness of breath, nausea, fatigue, light-headedness and palpitations — the heart seems to be racing — are other symptoms. Nausea and shortness of breath can be particularly prominent symptoms in women. That may be part of the reason why it’s been tough to diagnosis women early. Women may have a little chest pressure, but they’re focusing on the nausea and the physician starts going down that path.
“The important thing for women to know is that there is a broad range of symptoms, and if they are not feeling well and have never felt this way before, particularly if they’re experiencing chest discomfort or shortness-of-breath symptoms, they need to seek help.”
[Image credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images]
Could You Have A Heart Attack? Symptoms All Women Need To Know [Video] is an article from: The Inquisitr News
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