World Heart Day: Are the symptoms of coronary heart disease different for men and women?

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the world’s leading cause of death, claiming 17.9 million lives each year.

Four out of every five deaths from cardiovascular disease are due to heart attacks and strokes, and a third of these deaths occur prematurely in people under the age of 70.

Despite the alarming statistics, a recent survey revealed that millions of women do not worry about having a heart attack because they believe that only men suffer fatal cardiac arrest.

The research, conducted by Healthspan, found that more than one in 10 women believe that only men have to worry about heart conditions, while one in eight does not believe that women have heart attacks at all, and one in every four believe they would experience different experiences. symptoms for men if they did.

Official figures show that there are currently more than 800,000 women in the UK alone living with coronary heart disease (CHD), which is the leading cause of heart attacks.

And around 35,000 women are admitted to hospital after a heart attack each year in the UK, an average of 98 a day, or four an hour.

So are women really more likely to die of coronary heart disease? And, if so, why isn’t it always seen as a woman’s problem? Here is everything you need to know.

The NHS states that there are many different types of CVD, including CD, which occurs when the flow of oxygen-rich blood to the heart muscle is blocked or reduced.

This puts stress on the heart and can lead to:

According to the British Heart Foundation (BHF), coronary heart disease kills more than twice as many women as breast cancer in the UK each year and is the leading cause of death for women worldwide. Despite this, it is often considered a male disease.

“There is still the idea that women don’t get heart disease,” Professor Peter Collins told the organization.

“In general, women are more aware of conditions like breast cancer and do not realize that coronary heart disease may pose a higher risk.”

There are currently 2.3 million people in the UK living with CC: around 1.5 million men and 830,000 women.

The BHF states that it is a common misconception that men and women experience different heart attack symptoms, adding that while symptoms vary from person to person, there are no symptoms that women experience more or less frequently than men.

However, the WHF adds that the symptoms, progress and outcome of heart disease may be different in women and this leads to women being often underdiagnosed and treated.

Professor Collins agrees, adding that a heart attack in women can present differently and that the reasons for this are complex.

“In women, a heart attack is more likely to develop from the gradual erosion of fatty plaque in the coronary arteries, rather than from a sudden rupture,” he explains.

And it may be that women have a higher pain threshold. We know that estrogen is an effective pain reliever. “

According to the NHS, symptoms of a heart attack can include:

You must dial 999 for immediate medical assistance if you think you are having a heart attack.

You can learn more about the symptoms of different types of CVD, including strokes and peripheral artery disease here.

Inequalities in heart attack awareness, diagnosis and treatment are causing women to die unnecessarily every day in the UK, according to the BHF.

In 2019, the organization published research estimating that more than 8,200 women in England and Wales died over a ten-year period because they were not treated the same as men.

The BHF states that more lives are at risk, as research shows that women delay seeking help when they experience heart attack symptoms.

The researchers found that women are 96 percent more likely to be misdiagnosed with heart failure than men, attributing large disparities to the fact that such problems are mistakenly considered “a man’s disease.”

The risk factors for CVD are largely the same for men and women. The NHS states that while the exact cause is unclear, there are many things that can increase your risk of getting it, including:

You can read more about CVD risk factors here.