Heart disease in women is different from what men face. There are two common misconceptions in this regard. First, women are less likely to have heart disease. Second, the risk factors, symptoms, and treatment of heart disease are same for both men and women. However, the fact is just the opposite. Cardiac disease is the leading cause of death in women not only in the United States of America but in the whole world. If we go with the heart disease statistics in America, we find that since 1984 the number of women dying because of cardiac disease is much higher than men. Besides that, it is also very important for you to understand that it behaves quite differently in case of women. Unfortunately, heart disease in women is something that has been underestimated and misunderstood even by doctors. This further contributes to the high rate of death in women because of cardiac disease.
Risk Factors
There are several risk factors that affect women differently from men. For example, men over 55 years of age are at a higher risk of cardiac disease, the threat for women starts at 45. Women with family history of premature heart disease, especially in female members, are more prone to have it. Many controllable risk factors are similar to those in men, such as diabetes, high total cholesterol, hypertension, smoking, sedentary lifestyle, and obesity. But, some risk factors are specific for women only, such as complicated pregnancy (low birth weight, diabetes, and hypertension), use of birth control pills, smoking during pregnancy, increased C-Reactive Protein (CRP), and metabolic syndrome. It is very important for you to understand that the combination of smoking and birth control pills increases the risk of cardiac disease by twenty percent. Metabolic syndrome is particularly common in post-menopausal women. Likewise, C-Reactive Protein (CRP) has been recently discovered as a risk factor that appears to be more important in women than in men. Complications during pregnancy may also lead to various problems with the functioning of heart.
Symptoms
Symptoms of heart disease in women often differ from what the textbook says. Textbooks mainly deal with symptoms that are common in men, but researches have shown that symptoms vary in the case of women. For example, Angina in women behaves very differently. When they have angina, they experience "atypical" symptoms, which refers to the tenderness to touch and hot or burning sensation in the jaw, arms, shoulders, and/or back. Unlike men, women usually don’t suffer from chest discomfort or pain. Likewise, myocardial infarctions, one of the major symptoms of heart disease, also tend to act differently in women. Here again, women patients don’t experience any chest pain. Instead, the symptoms include extreme fatigue, shortness of breath, indigestion, vomiting, and nausea.
There are several other conditions as well that are more common in case of heart disease in women rather than in men. These conditions include Dysautonomia, Inappropriate Sinus Tachycardia (IST), Mitral Valve Prolapse (MVP). These conditions have symptoms indicating a problem with the heart, but they actually occur because of other reasons.