Heart Disease In Women: It’s Different

HEART DISEASE IS A WOMAN’S DISEASE

In the 1950s, we all thought heart disease was a man’s disease. However, more women are dying of heart disease than men. Also, even though the mortality rates for both men and women are declining, one particular group – women under 50 – has not. The fact is, heart disease kills more women at all ages than breast cancer. We tend to be less aware of women and heart disease than we are of breast cancer.  Unlike a woman with heart disease, someone with breast cancer will typically live a long time. And so more awareness is brought about breast cancer because we are constantly reminded of it.

 

HEART DISEASE PRESENTS DIFFERENTLY IN WOMEN

We expect the symptoms of a heart attack for a woman to be the same as that for a man. We expect a horrible heart pain that comes on suddenly, the kind where someone is clutching at his or her chest. Then, in the emergency room, when we test the person with an EKG, we’re looking for a big clot in the middle of the artery. While women sometimes exhibit these symptoms, the female pattern for a heart attack can be entirely different. A woman’s heart attack is typically not from a major clot in an artery. Rather, at the microvascular level, flow is distributed in such a way that she’s experiencing the coronary obstruction that goes with a heart attack.

Women distribute the coronary fatty plaque differently from the way men do. It is perhaps similar to how men get beer bellies while women are more likely to have their fat distributed all over as cellulite. The way a woman lays down fat in her coronary arteries often means there’s no visible fat throughout her coronary arteries during a routine coronary angiogram. Even so, it can still mean coronary obstruction of the microvasculature. Standard tests that are designed to look for blockages in the larger coronary arteries don’t generally detect coronary microvascular disease, and the fact that she’s having a heart attack may not at all be obvious. Too often she’ll be sent home with an inaccurate explanation such as, for example, “Maybe it was gas.”

 

WOMEN DO NOT GET LIFESAVING TREATMENT AS QUICKLY AS MEN

Since a woman may not recognize her symptoms, she may delay going to the emergency room, which means that the lifesaving techniques she needs are not as rapidly available to her. The same problem occurs with her health care providers. Since she may not be correctly diagnosed, she is far less likely to get immediate life-saving treatment. The diagnostic enzymes that would reveal a heart attack in a man may miss the fact that she’s having a heart attack; the male reference standards for these tests are often inappropriate for a woman. As a result, a woman with a heart attack is much more likely than a man to be dead in a year.

 

EDUCATE YOUR PATIENTS ABOUT THE SYMPTOMS OF A HEART ATTACK IN WOMEN

Let your patients know that the symptoms of a heart attack for her may be quite different from her image of a heart attack. The symptoms can include:
1 Uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain in the center of her chest. It lasts more than a few minutes, or goes away and comes back.
2 Pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach.
3 Shortness of breath with or without chest discomfort.
4 Other signs such as breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness.
If she has these symptoms, she should call 9-1-1 and get to the hospital.

 

TO SAVE LIVES, ADVOCATE FOR ESTABLISHING SEX-SPECIFC REFERENCES

There’s a low hanging fruit for improving health care for women and it is: advocate for gender-specific guidelines for diagnosing heart disease. For that matter, advocate for gender-specific guidelines in every discipline.

Search Articles

Latest Articles

Subscribe to Updates

About Author

Mitzi Perdue is the widow of the poultry magnate, Frank Perdue.  She’s the author of How To Make Your Family Business Last and 52 Tips to Combat Human Trafficking.  Contact her at www.MitziPerdue.com

All Articles

A Contrarian Investment that Could Be Just Right for You

A Contrarian Investment that Could Be Just Right for You

A Contrarian Investment that Could Be Just Right for YouSuppose for a moment that you’re an investor.  Not just any investor.  In this case you are Peter Hughes.  You are a real person, although in fact Hughes is not your real name. Here’s what’s going on with you,...

read more
Knowledge Services: Crucial in Today’s Knowledge Economy

Knowledge Services: Crucial in Today’s Knowledge Economy

Knowledge Services: Crucial in Today's Knowledge EconomyIf you’re beautifully organized, you can quickly find all your documents when you need them. However, if you’re like most people, the frustration and lost time spent trying to locate a needed document can be...

read more
A Family Book Can Be a Priceless Investment

A Family Book Can Be a Priceless Investment

A Family Book Can Be a Priceless InvestmentImagine something terrible for a moment. If you lost your memory, as in Alzheimer’s, you would have lost one of the most basic factors that makes you you.  Without memory, you’d have trouble making good decisions; you’d no...

read more
The Soft Issues Are Really the Hard Issues!

The Soft Issues Are Really the Hard Issues!

The Soft Issues Are Really the Hard Issues!If you’re part of a business family and you’re also a parent of a school age child, which would be easier for you to do?  Be honest! Choice A: Have the Sex Talk with your child Choice B: Have the Money Talk with your child...

read more
Trust: How to Nurture a Key Factor in Family Success

Trust: How to Nurture a Key Factor in Family Success

Trust: How to Nurture a Key Factor in Family SuccessTRUST: HOW TO NURTURE A KEY INGREDIENT FOR FAMILY SUCCESS What does it take to be a successful multi-generational family business? Dennis Jaffe, PhD is one of the best people to ask.  For more than 40 years, he’s...

read more
Women’s Leadership Styles: There’s a Lot to Learn!

Women’s Leadership Styles: There’s a Lot to Learn!

Women's Leadership Styles: There's a Lot to Learn!Women in family businesses face a particular set of distinct challenges when it comes to leadership style. Heather Powell, a family business coach for women and couples, has an impressive track record of dealing with a...

read more