Other diseases are more in the public eye, but when it comes to coronary artery disease for women, the numbers are staggering.
One in four American women die of heart disease, compared to, say, breast cancer, which kills one in 30 women in the United States.
Moreover, 80 percent of American women have one or more risk factors for heart disease.
The usual factors that lead to heart disease are shared by both genders, however: plaque builds up in the artery walls, constricting blood flow. A variety of factors can put people at risk: diabetes, high levels of cholesterol and triglycerides, high blood pressure and just getting older.
But while men and women have those factors in common, women tend to have their own set of symptoms for a heart attack. For one thing, those symptoms – like the classic chest pains – may be less severe in women than men.
Women can also have a variety of less intense symptoms, like fatigue, shortness of breath, nausea, dizziness, sweating and a milder form of chest pain than men sometimes feel.
One significant issue that differs between men and women is coronary microvascular disease, which tends to occur more in women than men. This condition shows up in the small arteries around the heart. Some researchers believe that a drop in estrogen levels when women reach menopause, along with other more common risk factors, can lead to the condition.
Should women of all ages be concerned about these things? Again, the statistics are compelling – heart disease is the leading cause of death for women 65 and older, but is the third leading cause for those 25 to 44 and the second leading cause for those 45 to 64.
SCHEDULE A SCREENING
SOURCES:
http://womensheart.org/content/HeartDisease/panic_attack_or_heart_attack.asp
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/heart-disease/HB00040
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/hdw/hdw_whatis.html
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