Women and heart attacks
BBC Radio 4’s Inside Health aired a brilliant programme last week called ‘Women and heart attacks’, which shed light on the lesser studied aspects of heart attacks: those that occur in women. There’s a common myth that heart disease and heart attacks affect men and not women. Although it’s true that men develop heart disease earlier than women due to the protective effects of oestrogen on the arteries, the absolute number of new cases of heart attacks in the UK is actually similar. In fact, as some might think
coronary artery disease is still the leading cause of death in women, not breast cancer or cervical cancer.
HEART ATTACKS CAN BE GENDERED:
The programme highlighted the fact that many women don’t recognise their symptoms in the same way that men do. This is anecdotally linked to women’s tendency to downplay their own malaises, particularly in family settings.
Scientifically, it is also linked to the fact that there is far less data and awareness around heart attack symptoms that are unique to women.
WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES?
+ Types of heart attack
Women have a higher proportion of heart attacks with non-obstructive coronary artery disease, i.e. the vessel isn’t totally blocked.
They can also present with something called a spontaneous coronary artery dissection which is a tear of the vessel wall, which although presents the same, needs to be treated very differently from a heart attack.
+ Heart attack symptoms
Although the number one symptom of coronary artery disease and heart attack is still chest pain, women are more likely than men to have atypical symptoms such as dizziness, indigestion and tiredness. These more varied symptoms tend to mean women are less likely to seek help early and more heart attacks are completely missed.
TREATMENT:
We also know that when women do come to hospital with a diagnosis of a heart attack they have a higher death rate than men, both in hospital and after leaving. There’s thought to be two reasons for this and I’ll throw in a third as well:
- Women often come into hospital later than men and we know speed of treatment is really important
- They tend to receive less comprehensive treatment than men, whether that’s surgeries or prescribed medications in recovery
- (My bonus one) is that women are also less likely to partake in cardiac rehab, which is where we come in!
CARDIAC REHAB:
Across the UK,
only 27% of people who take up cardiac rehab are female.
Our data is similar with only 25% of our athletes being female. This is a huge disparity given that the absolute number of new heart attacks are similar. We produced a research paper a few years ago on how beneficial a 12-week programme is for our female athletes and engaging more female athletes is incorporated in our company mission of rehabilitating cardiac rehab.
TAKE-HOMES:
Pass this information onto the women in your life. Be aware and be sure. If you’re unsure of a symptom, get it checked out. If you’ve suffered a cardiac event then please do seek out cardiac rehabilitation.