Heart attack symptoms usually get missed or ignored by younger
women, new research shows.
The study, including 30 women with an average age of
48 who had had heart attacks, concluded that the majority of women
confuse the symptoms of a heart attack with fatigue, indigestion, stress, among
other things, WebMD reports.
“We found that most failed to connect their symptoms with a
heart condition, commonly misattributing them to fatigue, indigestion, stress
or overexertion. We learned that many of these women had no idea that they were
at risk for heart disease and were unaware that their symptoms could be
connected with a heart problem,” lead author Judith Lichtman of the Yale
University School of Medicine in
The women participating in the study were interviewed within
a week of leaving the hospital after their heart attack. Most of the women said
they thought they were too young to be having a heart attack. Others said they
had atypical symptoms that lasted for more than a day or they confused these
symptoms with some other condition.
Many women also reported that urgent action hadn’t been
taken when they described their symptoms to their doctors. In many cases, they
received an appointment a few days after their initial call. Other women said
that not even doctors recognized heart attack symptoms and once they ended up
in emergency rooms, they sat for extended periods because they were thought to
have non life-threatening non-heart related conditions.
Dr. Lichtman warned health care providers, by saying they need to be aware that young women may experience atypical and typical heart attack symptoms and treat them promptly.
“Because heart disease is less common at this younger age, current media
campaigns and prevention messages do not appear to be reaching this group,” she
said.
Almost half a million
The findings of the study were presented Friday at the American Heart
Association's 9th Scientific Forum on Quality of Care and Outcomes Research in
Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke.