Mon Health Heart & Vascular Center is using the month of February to spread awareness about heart disease, particularly in women.
According to a Mon Health press release, the No. 1 killer of women is heart disease, and many women don’t realize they’re at risk. In fact, according to research, women don’t receive as much preventive treatment and advice about heart disease as men do.
“Awareness about heart disease in women is improving, but we still have a long way to go,” said Dr. Bradford Warden, chief of cardiology and executive director of the heart and vascular center. “Too often the disease isn’t recognized until it’s too late.”
The national average of women with heart disease in the U.S. is 3.5 percent, according to America’s Health Rankings, Mon Health said. However, the rate in West Virginia is double that, at 7 percent.
About 400,000 women die every year from some sort of cardiovascular disease, the press release said. That’s more deaths than all cancers combined.
According to a Journal of the American College of Cardiology study done in 2017, 45 percent of women didn’t know they had cardiovascular disease. And four out of 10 women said they had a heart health checkup with their doctor.
“Assessing cardiovascular risk should be a top priority,” Warden said. “Heart disease in women is not the same as heart disease in men. Women carry different risks than men, and their symptoms of heart attack are often different.”
The Mon Health press release broke down these heart disease differences between men and women:
- Heart disease is more likely in women smokers than men smokers, and more likely in women with diabetes than men with diabetes.
- Low estrogen after meno-pause also heightens a woman’s risk for heart disease.
- Mental stress and depression affect the hearts of women more than men. This “broken heart syndrome” is caused by the sudden release of stress hormones during stressful events.
- Pregnant women with high blood pressure or diabetes are prone to have those diseases long term, increasing their chances of heart disease.
It’s also important to remember, the release said, that women’s heart attacks are not always caused by a blocked artery, which is the primary cause for men, according to a study in the journal Circulation. Warden said there can be artery spasms that happen more often for women.
“Heart attack symptoms in women don’t always include the classic chest pain,” Warden said. “That’s why it’s important to listen to your body and take chest discomfort, shortness of breath or any new symptoms seriously.”
According to the press release, those difference symptoms include:
- Chest pain is not as common in women as men. Women may feel chest tightness or discomfort rather than pain.
- Women may have neck, shoulder, jaw, back, arm or abdominal pain.
- Women are more likely to experience extreme fatigue, nausea and vomiting, dizziness, indigestion or shortness
of breath.
