WASHINGTON — Women tend to play a dangerous waiting game with their hearts. Researchers say they are far more likely than men to dismiss signs of trouble and wait too long to get medical help when symptoms appear.
“More women have heart issues than men and they still believe that somehow they are immune,” says Dr. Warren Levy, Chief Medical Officer of Virginia Heart — the largest cardiology practice in the region.
He says this new study from the Harvard School of Public Health underscores the dangers of delay and denial for American women.
The study — presented at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress — points to a strong gender gap
The researchers surveyed patients who had suffered a bout of angina — a pain that occurs when the heart is not getting an adequate blood supply. They found that women were one and a half times more likely than men to try to wait out their symptoms
Levy is not surprised by the findings. He says at his practice, “women always tend to be a bit more shocked when we tell them that their symptoms are due to a heart problem than men.”
Making matters worse is the fact the classic symptoms of heart trouble are often more subtle in women. Like men, they can experience a crushing pressure across the chest. But Levy says heart problems can also present themselves in women as “some cold sweat, some nausea, shortness of breath, an ache across their back or up their neck or in their arms.”
He says when these symptoms occur, women “know something is not right, but they think it is something else and delay getting medical care.”
Levy warns that delay can be very dangerous. “There is an adage that we have been working with for many years for heart attacks: time is muscle,” he says, adding “the sooner we can restore the blood flow to the heart, the more heart muscle we will save.”
The American Heart Association says heart disease is the number one killer of women. A detailed list of danger signs is available on the organization’s website. The Association says every woman should be familiar with the indications of trouble, emphasizing that even when the signs are subtle, the consequences can be deadly.
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