Women Experience Different Heart Attack Symptoms

2/5/2016

Every 43 seconds, someone in the U.S. suffers a heart attack. Each year, more than 600,000 of those afflicted will not survive the attack, with nearly half of the victims being women. While we’ve all become familiar with the “Hollywood heart attack” (man suddenly clutches chest and immediately falls unconscious), only a portion of victims will experience a heart attack in this way – and women’s symptoms may be significantly different. 

The American Heart Association recently published a scientific statement about women’s heart attack causes and symptoms in its journal Circulation. Three key points are made in this new statement – women frequently have different underlying causes to heart attacks than men, such as the types of plaque build-up; compared to men, women tend to be undertreated and are less likely to participate in cardiac rehab after a heart attack; and risk factors such as high blood pressure and diabetes increase heart attack risk in women more severely than in men.

“While the most common symptom for any heart attack victim is chest pain and discomfort, women are more likely than men to experience one or more of the other, less obvious symptoms,” said Dr. David Amlicke, Interventional Cardiologist at Gateway Medical Center. “Women are also less likely to assume their symptoms are heart-attack related, and to wait longer to seek help. I tell my patients that every minute matters. Even if you have doubt – call 9-1-1.”

In addition to the obvious feeling of pain, pressure or heaviness on your chest, here are the most common symptoms experienced by women having a heart attack:

• Sharp pain in the upper body, including in the neck, back and/or jaw area;
• Severe shortness of breath, either at rest or with minimal level of exertion;
• Sudden and/or “cold sweating” that you suspect is NOT menopause-related;
• Unexplained or sudden fatigue – one of the most common symptoms, and the easiest to ignore or misdiagnose;
• Unfamiliar dizziness or light-headedness;
• Unexplained nausea – women are twice as likely as men to experience nausea or vomiting during a heart attack.

Awareness campaigns over the past decade have helped improve survival rates for women having heart attacks but much work remains. Here in Tennessee, heart disease and stroke account for 30.1% of all female deaths.  Some other Tennessee facts:

• On average, nearly 24 women die from heart disease and stroke in Tennessee each day.
• Nearly 62.1% of women in Tennessee are obese and overweight
• In Tennessee, 18.6% of women smoke cigarettes.

 “As a critical healthcare resource in Clarksville, Gateway Medical Center is focused year-round on the prevention and treatment of heart disease. But February brings the opportunity for national awareness to a significant health problem right here in Tennessee. The statistics are both telling and alarming, in terms of the impact on our local communities,” said Amlicke.





In honor of National Heart Month, Gateway Medical Group Cardiology staff dressed in Red on Friday, February 5 as part of the American Heart Association’s National Wear Red Day initiative. 
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