Health Mary Mata August 23, 2011

Latinas At Risk For Heart Attacks, Symptoms Are Different

More than 40% of women still don’t realize that heart disease is the number one female killer. One in 30 women’s deaths in 2007 was from breast cancer, compared to about 1 in 3 from cardiovascular disease, according to the American Heart Association. And, Latinas may be more at risk of heart disease 10 years earlier than other women.

According to Cardiothoracic Surgeon Dr. Kathy Magliato,”The most common way women present with heart disease is dead, dead on arrival. Women tend to downplay their symptoms, and they tend to wait longer to come to the hospital, and that’s why they die at home.” Nearly two-thirds of women who die suddenly of heart disease report no previous symptoms, for example, compared with half of men.

Since 1984 more women than men have died from heart disease and half of them never had chest pain.

The top 5 symptoms of heart disease in women:

1. A persistent, unexplainable fatigue is heart disease in women until proven otherwise.

2. Shortness of breath

3. Indigestion, upper abdominal pain or nausea

4. Jaw or throat pain

5. Arm pain (especially the left arm)

Unfortunately, many doctors misdiagnose women with these symptoms as panic attacks or indigestion. By the time there’s obvious distress, the heart gives out.

Heart-related studies still don’t focus enough on women — especially minority women.

While the overall deaths have been dropping in recent years, that improvement has been slower for women who face some unique issues, says a report from the non-profit Society for Women’s Health Research and WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease. There has been too little progress in tackling the sex differences in heart disease. Scientists must find the best ways to treat women’s hearts and protect them in the first place.

The report also says part of the lack of understanding about gender issues is because heart-related studies still don’t focus enough on women, especially minority women. The report urged direct comparisons of which treatments work best in women, and improved diagnostic tests.

Legislation pending in Congress would require better study of gender differences, and would expand a government program that currently screens poor women in 20 states for high cholesterol and other heart risks, offering smoking cessation and nutrition education to help lower those risks.

Know the symptoms.

The best precautionary step women can take against heart disease, in addition to eating well and becoming active, is knowing the symptoms. Women need to listen to their bodies, and if they have one or more of the top symptoms, they should see a doctor immediately and get pushy about their symptoms.

References:

[Photo By Mykl Roventine]

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