The symptoms and causes of heart attacks are different in women compared to men, and heart disease in women is not understood and treated as much as in men, the American Heart Association said in a statement released Monday.
This is the first time AHA has issued a statement regarding knowledge and treatment gaps on heart attacks in women. The statement gathers the latest relevant information about heart disease and women.
"Over the last 10 years or so, we've learned that women's hearts are different than men's in some significant ways, and while that's helped reduce mortality, there's much more to know," said Dr. Laxmi Mehta, director of the Women's Cardiovascular Health Program at Ohio State University who chaired the AHA statement.
Studies about cardiovascular disease are done mostly in men, so many people's knowledge about the condition is based on men, indicating that there is a need for "more science in women," Mehta said.
Heart attack is the primary cause of death in women not just in the U.S. but all over the world. In 2014 alone, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported almost 50,000 heart attack deaths among women.
"Research is power," Mehta said in a news release. "It's the only way for us to better understand heart attacks in women."
How exactly does the condition differ in women compared to men?
Mehta explained that artery clogging plaques form in a different way in women. In many cases, they appear less obvious because they don't stick out into the artery, making their detection difficult. However, they clog the arteries just the same. These cases can't be treated by stents.
Mehta also enumerated the differences in heart attack warning signs between women and men. Although both feel chest pain during a heart attack, women can have other symptoms like neck or jaw pain, back pain, pain in the arms, shortness of breath and palpitations minus the chest pain. Women may also have nausea and feel a sense of dread.
Additionally, type 2 diabetes and hypertension - known risk factors for heart attack - are more dangerous for women. Depression also raises women's risk for heart attacks by 50 percent.
Unfortunately, women tend to delay getting treatment by an average of 54 hours compared to men, who seek treatment up to 16 hours after experiencing the symptoms.
"We don't yet clearly understand why women have different causes and symptoms of heart attacks," Mehta said. "Women are more complex, there are more biological variables such as hormonal fluctuations. That's why more research is needed."
The AHA's scientific statement was published online Jan. 25 in the journal Circulation.
