Is it heartburn? Muscle strain? Pain from a heart attack can take on different forms for women – and unfortunately, it’s those subtle differences that could be making a huge difference in clinical outcomes for patients.
Coronary heart disease continues to be the leading cause of death for women in the United States even though more is being done to identify and treat the disease. Ignoring the symptoms of heart attack is one of the key factors attributing to this statistic.
“Since the 1980s there’s been a steady decline in cardiovascular disease rates for women, and that’s great,” explains Dr. Michelle Carlson at Hennepin Healthcare. “Awareness of prevention efforts like reducing cholesterol, stress and smoking cessation as well as incorporating positive exercise and diet choices are making a difference. But there’s one obstacle we’re still not overcoming – and that’s the likelihood of women to dismiss symptoms until it’s too late.” (more…)