By: Renae Bickle, BSN, RN
Editor’s Note: Renae works as a nurse in the Cardiopulmonary Department at Woodlawn Health
This year on February 7th, it is “National Wear Red Day.” This day is dedicated to spreading awareness about heart disease and how you can help to both lower your risk and recognize early signs and symptoms. One of the most dangerous outcomes of heart disease is a heart attack. A heart attack occurs when the blood vessels supplying the heart with oxygenated blood become blocked, causing heart muscle to die. Many know that the most common symptom related to a heart attack is chest pain or pressure. What many might not know is that sometimes, symptoms of a heart attack can present much milder and differently from person to person. Additionally, women in particular tend to have many differences when it comes to heart disease and heart attacks, which we are going to discuss today.
Per the American Heart Association, heart disease is the leading cause of death in women in the U.S. Unfortunately for years, women were not included in many medical studies regarding heart disease, as scientists did not believe at the time that it was a disease that affected women. However, researchers found that not only is this disease very prevalent in women, but also, that heart disease is less likely to be noticed in women due to milder/differing symptoms, it tends to occur about ten years later in life than it does for men, and that women are more likely to die after having a heart attack. Additionally, regardless of lifestyle choices, women are put at increased risk for heart disease. For example, menopausal symptoms such as night sweats and hot flashes as well as conditions in pregnancy such as preeclampsia or eclampsia can result in high blood pressure, thus increasing your risk. Also, pregnancy can result in other conditions such as gestational diabetes, which can also increase your risk for heart disease later in life (Williamson, 2024).
Knowing that women are at high risk for developing heart disease, it is important to be able to recognize early signs and symptoms of a possible heart attack. Early intervention is key, and being able to recognize symptoms early could be the difference between life or death. Something to keep in mind is “time = muscle,” meaning the more time that the heart is without oxygen, the more muscle that endures irreversible damage. As mentioned before, common symptoms of a heart attack are chest pain/pressure, pain in the jaw, shortness of breath, sweating, or pain radiating down an arm. However, women have also presented with the following symptoms: dizziness, nausea, pain in the neck, indigestion or heartburn, feeling faint, extreme tiredness, or pain that is near the bottom of their chest/upper stomach area. Additionally, when women do feel chest pain, this can often feel milder than the “crushing sensation” many men describe, causing them to associate the pain with another cause (American Heart Association, 2020; American Heart Association News, 2020). Regardless of whether you believe your symptoms are heart related or not, if you experience any of these symptoms and have known risk factors for heart disease such as (but not limited to) family history, smoking, poor diet, sedentary lifestyle, or you are 65 or older, please do not hesitate to call 911 or have someone drive you to a local emergency room to be evaluated. It is never a bad idea to rule out a heart attack and to act quickly, before irreversible damage is done. For more information, the American Heart Association is a wonderful resource regarding this information as well as healthy lifestyle tips and tricks. Thank you for reading and happy heart month!
References
American Heart Association News. (2020, March 6). Changing the way we view women’s heart attack symptoms. American Heart Association. https://www.heart.org/en/news/2020/03/06/changing- the-way-we-view-womens-heart-attack-symptoms
American Heart Association. (2020, March 5). Heart attack symptoms: Women vs. men. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1i58QD5aWRo&t=1s
Williamson, L. (2024, February 9). The slowly evolving truth about heart disease and women. American Heart Association. https://www.heart.org/en/news/2024/02/09/the-slowly- evolving-truth-about-heart-disease-and-women
