The American Heart Association has issued a new scientific statement hoping to close the knowledge gap regarding women and heart attacks. Mike Foley reports.
Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center cardiologist Dr. LaxmiMehta helped craft the statement, which compiles the latest data on symptoms, treatments and the types of heart attacks among women.
“This is the first scientific statement from the AHA on heart attacks and women. These guidelines are derived both for the physicians to get a better understanding of the symptoms, the differences in treatments that are recommended for women, and then to translate that to their patients.”
Health officials say cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death for women, and women die at a higher rate than men. While both experience chest pain as a primary heart attack symptom, Mehta says women may instead have palpitations, pain in the back, shoulder or jaw, sweating or indigestion.
“Some women experience really bad heartburn. Well that’s really hard to tell, is it food or is it my heart?
So, most women will play it off to being stomach-related stuff as opposed to their heart.”
Mehta - who also directs Ohio State's Women’s Cardiovascular Health Program- calls for more attention and research into gender-specific characteristics and disparities to improve awareness, prevention, recognition and treatment in women with heart disease. Mehta and the other statement authors also want continued public health messages and interventions to target racial and ethnic minority women who carry a heavier burden of risk factors and often face poor outcomes.
Here is a link to the organization's statement: http://newsroom.heart.org/news/a-womans-heart-attack-causes-symptoms-may-differ-from-a-mans
