Heart disease in Women – Statistics Don’t Lie

In Fitness/Getting in Shape |

Contrary to popular belief, women comprise 60% of all heart attack related deaths in the United States. This number is astounding. In addition, it is also disturbing to note that women are more likely to die from heart disease than men. One of the main reasons for this is that women tend to ignore the early warning signs of an impending attack. Why? Most of the symptoms occurring in women are vague and generally resemble other less threatening conditions. Unfortunately, this leads women to delay seeking treatment because they do not understand their risks.

While risk factors remain the same for both men and women, compelling evidence suggests that women respond differently than men due to preconceived notions about heart disease, and do not seek treatment as early as they should. Women tend to be older with higher incidence of hypertension, higher cholesterol and blood sugar levels, but are less likely to be smokers. Women view heart disease as primarily a disease of men and never consider that their symptoms could be heart disease related. This could have dire repercussions should a heart attack ensue.

Symptoms that most women report experiencing include shoulder and abdominal pain, nausea, shortness of breath and fatigue. Due to the generalized nature of these symptoms women tend to blame them on something else, not believing they are signs of a heart attack, and delay seeking treatment which leads to the possibility of more severe damage to the heart muscle. In addition, women who have experienced a heart attack also run the risk of having a second attack within five years.

It is also disturbing to note that women who enter an emergency room will probably experience a delay in validation that she is actually experiencing a heart attack. The reason? EKG testing has shown not display the ‘classic’ symptoms of a heart attack. This results in delay of being admitted to the cardiac unit and receiving life-saving thrombolytic medications as quickly as a man would. Unfortunately, this accounts for the higher mortality rate for women experiencing a heart attack.

Facts and Statistics do not lie. Past data has shown that women have a higher fatality rate than men. It is time for women to understand this illness more. Heart disease is not an illness associate with men only and women should learn to recognize the symptoms and seek treatment early.

Barb Hicks is a licensed registered nurse who writes and shares her knowledge with others. She is a featured writer on Clivir.com where she shares more information about Women Heart Disease and Sudden Cardiac Death Treatment.

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