What women need to know about heart disease
BY LAUREN HANA MD – In honor of American Heart Month, in our continuing series on heart health, today I want to focus on women and heart disease. Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
More women die of heart disease every year than cancer and all other causes put together. There are some important reasons why, starting with symptoms that can be subtler than the more traditional chest pain men experience.
Red flags
Women’s symptoms often occur for three or four weeks before a heart attack. Watch for:
• New or dramatic fatigue where even small activities you’re used to doing make you unusually tired.
• Shortness of breath or sweating, especially when either occurs without exertion and when either is accompanied by a symptom such a chest pain or fatigue that worsens when lying down.
• Pain in the neck, back or jaw especially when there is no specific muscle or joint that aches or when the discomfort worsens when you are exerting yourself and stops when you stop. Pain can be experienced in either arm. Pain can start in the chest and spread to the back; it can occur suddenly and may wake you up at night. Pain is also sometimes experienced in the lower left side of the jaw.
The silent killer
Coronary artery disease is sometimes hard to diagnose in women, which makes a silent heart attack – when the flow of blood is blocked in the coronary arteries by a build-up of plaque – all the more worrisome. A silent heart attack is a heart attack that has no symptoms, minimal symptoms or unrecognized symptoms and it’s easy for women to dismiss symptoms as related to something other than the heart.
The American Heart Association says women often miss the non-specific or very subtle symptoms of indigestion, a case of the flu, or a strained muscle in their chest or their upper back.
Are you at risk?
The CDC lists these factors that may increase your chances of getting heart disease:
• Diabetes
• Diet high in saturated fats/cholesterol
• Excessive alcohol use
• Family history of heart disease
• High blood cholesterol
• High blood pressure
• Obesity
• Physical inactivity
• Tobacco use
Ways to lower your risk
The good news is that heart disease is preventable if you learn how to lower your chance of it. You can lower your chance for heart disease by:
• Eating healthy
• Staying active
• Being smoke-free
• Limiting alcohol
Talk to your doctor
Please reach out to the Clinic to talk to a physician about any conditions that cause you concern. Visit the Clinic’s website to download a checklist of questions to ask your doctor about women’s heart disease at https://www.bghc.org/resources/heart-health/resources/.
Additional resources
• You can learn more about risk factors at https://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/risk_factors.htm.
• The CDC talks about Women and Heart Disease Prevention at https://www.cdc.gov/women/heart/index.htm.
• The American Heart Association provides facts and information about women and heart disease at https://www.goredforwomen.org/en/about-heart-disease-in-women/facts.
