In 2019, heart disease killed more women worldwide than any other disease. TheBritish Heart Foundation (BHF) estimates that the disease kills more than twice as many women as breast cancer in the UK every year. Symptoms of heart disease present differently between the sexes, with lesser known signs being ignored in women.
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Not a man’s disease
Apart from the commonly known symptoms of coronary heart disease - the main cause of heart attacks - many are dismissed as signs of other conditions, delaying early detection, The Mirror reports.
This is because, early diagnostic tests for the disease were based on assumptions that all bodies are the same and function similarly. Jenifer Dungan, Nursing associate professor at the University of Florida College said:
Because of this disparity, women are more likely than men to report heart disease symptoms that appear out of the norm, experience delayed treatment for heart disease and even have undiagnosed heart attacks
This, she added, has contributed to the gap in health care equity in the detection and treatment of heart diseases.
Indigestion and heart disease
Chest pain is a common sign of heart disease that many physicians look for in diagnosis. However, women can experience other subtler signs that are not easily associated with the condition.
Director of the Johns Hopkins Columbia Heart Failure Clinic, Dr Lili Barouch said, some of the unusual symptoms in women include:
- Indigestion
- Diabetes
- Heartburn
- Night sweats
- Back pain
She added:
Women are much more likely to have atypical heart attack symptoms. So, while the classical symptoms, such as chest pains, apply to both men and women, women are much more likely to get fewer common symptoms.
Some factors that increase the risk of heart disease in both men and women are being overweight, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking and diabetes.
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