Heart Attack Symptoms Differ in Women

Attention Women: Do you believe you would recognize heart attack symptoms if you had them?  You are probably wrong because they are totally different from men's. 

HEART DISEASE IS THE #1 CAUSE OF DEATH IN U.S. WOMEN

Because too many of us don't know how to recognize women's symptoms of heart attack, the mortality rate in women from heart disease is rising, especially among older women.

As our lives parallel men's, heart attack and stroke death rates are on the rise among women.

RISK FACTORS THAT CAUSE HEART ATTACKS AND STROKES

The most common causes of heart attacks and strokes are:

• Hypertension or worry about family, financials, job, children
• Balancing career and family
• Lack of proper nutrition
• Excess weight
• Insufficient exercise
• Aging (post-menopausal)
• High cholesterol
• Smoking
• Excess drinking
• Addictive habits (drugs)

STATISTICS

One in four U.S. women dies of heart disease, compared with one in thirty who dies of breast cancer!

Eighty percent of women aged 40 to 60 have one or more risk factors for heart disease. Having one or more risk factors intensifies a woman's chance of developing heart disease.

According to the National Heart, Lung & Blood Institute (NHLBI), having just one risk factor doubles your chance of developing heart disease.

Not only older women suffer risk factors. Among women 18+ years:

• 17.3 percent are current smokers
• 51.6 percent are overweight
• 27.0 percent suffer from hypertension
• 35.0 percent have high cholesterol
• 53.0 percent do not meet physical activity recommendations

African-American and Hispanic women have higher rates of risk factors, so are more apt to contract heart disease, compared with white women.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HEART ATTACK AND STROKE

Very briefly:

A heart attack is a sudden blockage of a coronary artery which leads to death of part of the heart muscle due to its loss of blood supply.

A stroke is the sudden death of brain cells due to lack of oxygen caused by blockage of blood flow or rupture of an artery to the brain.