More than 300,000 women in the US die from heart disease each year, making it the leading cause of death for women. However, only roughly half of women are aware of the dangers, warning signs, and symptoms of heart attacks.
On February 2, National Wear Red Day is celebrated to raise awareness about cardiovascular disease.
Despite a decline in rates over the previous 20 years, according to LaPook, far too many people still pass away from heart disease.
“It’s a dangerous misconception that heart disease is somehow exclusively a male disease,” he said. “It’s the No. 1 killer in women. There’s a reason why we’re wearing red today, and that’s to bring attention to this, because attention and understanding translates to save lives.”
symptoms of a heart attack in females
According to LaPook, the following are the most typical heart attack symptoms in women:
- chest ache
- Breathlessness
There may be a few more unusual symptoms, though, such as:
- emesis
- throwing up
- Weary
- ache in your back, jaw, or other places
Risk factors for heart disease
Heart disease is associated with a number of risk factors, such as:
- elevated blood pressure
- Diabetes
- elevated cholesterol
- Being overweight
- Passivity
“Access to care is another thing,” LaPook adds. “You have to be able to actually see a doctor.”
Additionally, he begs, “No smoking!” “That’s one of the big reasons for the drop is the decline in smoking,” he states.
Exists a heart disease screening program?
Early awareness of your numbers, including blood pressure, weight, and other metrics, is the best defense against heart disease.
“It’s not something where you want to wait until you have symptoms and then say, ‘OK, now I’m going to really get into it.’ This should be a lifelong thing. So, from birth, you want to have healthy habits,” LaPook says. That includes maintaining a healthy weight and knowing “what your numbers are.”
“High blood pressure is silent very often, so you want to know those numbers. You want to make sure you’re not diabetic, you want to make sure your lipids are OK.”
Heart conditions during pregnancy
LaPook describes pregnancy as a “big stress test.” He says you want to be in good general health going into pregnancy, just as you wouldn’t start exercising the day before running a marathon.
“Part of that means access to care, making sure that you know your numbers, that you’re the right weight,” he says. He also noted the heightened concerns for Black women, who face an increased mortality rate during pregnancy.
“It’s a problem that’s been addressed, but sporadically and not well enough, and the reasons for it are multifactorial — it’s social determinants of health,” LaPook said. “If you don’t have access to good housing and good food and access to care, and then on top of that, of course, we know there’s implicit bias, and these all combined to increase mortality for Black women.”
Topics #Heart Attack Symptoms #Women
