Women experience different heart attack symptoms

Staff Reports

The Contraband

Every 43 seconds, someone in the U.S. suffers a heart attack. Each year, more than 600,000 of those afflicted will not survive the attack, with nearly half of the victims being women. While we’ve all become familiar with the “Hollywood heart attack” (man suddenly clutches chest and immediately falls unconscious), only a portion of victims will experience a heart attack in this way – and women’s symptoms may be significantly different.


The American Heart Association recently published a scientific statement about women’s heart attack causes and symptoms in its journal Circulation. Three key points are made in this new statement – women frequently have different underlying causes to heart attacks than men, such as the types of plaque build-up; compared to men, women tend to be undertreated and are less likely to participate in cardiac rehab after a heart attack; and risk factors such as high blood pressure and diabetes increase heart attack risk in women more severely than in men.


“While the most common symptom for any heart attack victim is chest pain and discomfort, women are more likely than men to experience one or more of the other, less obvious symptoms,” said Dr. Jake LeBeau, a cardiologist and independent member of the medical staff at Lake Area Medical Center. “Women are also less likely to assume their symptoms are heart-attack related, and to wait longer to seek help. I tell my patients that time loss actually means muscle loss so every minute matters. Even if you have doubt – call 9-1-1.”


Women and their loved ones need to know what a heart attack looks like so they can get treatment fast. According to Dr. LeBeau, “In addition to the obvious feeling of pain, pressure or heaviness on your chest, here are the most common symptoms experienced by women having a heart attack”:


    -Sharp pain in the upper body, including in the neck, back and/or jaw area;
    -Severe shortness of breath, either at rest or with minimal level of exertion and with or without chest discomfort;
    -Sudden and/or “cold sweating” that you suspect is NOT menopause-related;
    -Unexplained or sudden fatigue – one of the most common symptoms, and the easiest to ignore or misdiagnose;
    -Unfamiliar dizziness or light-headedness;
    -Unexplained nausea – women are twice as likely as men to experience nausea or vomiting during a heart attack.

Awareness campaigns over the past decade have helped improve survival rates for women having heart attacks but much work remains. Here in Louisiana, cardiac-related conditions are responsible for 1 in 3 female deaths, and are more deadly than all forms of cancer combined. Some other heart health facts include:


    -Heart disease and stroke account for 30.9% of all female deaths in Louisiana.
    -On average, nearly 17 women die from heart disease and stroke in Louisiana each day.
    -Heart disease alone if the leading cause of death in Louisiana, accounting for 4,891 female deaths in 2009.

Unfortunately, some women are in more danger than others. Black women of any age have a higher incidence of heart attacks of all women. And black and Hispanic women more often have related risk factors like diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure compared to non-Hispanic white women.


“As a critical healthcare resource in Southwest Louisiana, Lake Area Medical Center is focused year-round on the prevention and treatment of heart disease,” said Bryan S. Bateman, Chief Executive Officer. “But February brings the opportunity for national awareness to a significant health problem right here in the five-parish area. The statistics are both telling and alarming, in terms of the impact on our local communities.”


In honor of National Heart Month, Lake Area Medical Center would like to encourage women throughout Southwest Louisiana to make their heart health a priority.


To find a physician to help you care for your heart, whether a cardiologist of primary care physician, or learn more about your heart health and risk factors, visit LakeAreaMC.com.