Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death among both women and men. Within this set of pathologies, there are different types of heart problems, but coronary artery diseases are the most common. They usually progress slowly over time and cause a narrowing of the arteries. This process can lead to angina pectoris (the main symptom of which is acute chest pain), arrhythmia (the heartbeat does not follow the correct rhythm) or heart failure (the heart is not able to pump the blood flow needed by the heart). body).
Women are just as affected by heart problems as men, but it is often more difficult to diagnose a heart problem. There are several hypotheses that explain this fact. The US National Library of Medicine maintains that women are “more likely than men to have ‘silent’ heart disease, meaning they have no symptoms” and adds that “healthcare professionals may not recognize the disease.” heart disease in women because their symptoms can be ‘silent’ and different from those in men,” which can mask the disease and make diagnosis difficult. In recent years, the level of correct diagnoses has been improving.
There is still a certain difference between both sexes when it comes to cardiovascular diseases. According to the Spanish Heart Foundation (FEC), women are “underdiagnosed and undertreated” and “delay in diagnosis” is key. The symptoms are sometimes different and different clinical manifestations have been identified in women with an acute myocardial infarction, such as the absence of chest pain or greater presence of back pain.” The FEC points out that sometimes, in less urgent situations, it is relatively common for women’s symptoms to be misinterpreted and related to other diseases such as anxiety or stress.
The FEC cites as first evidence a study presented in the United States fifteen years ago that discovered that when a man and a woman came with the same symptoms to a first visit to the health service “if the woman explains that she is in a moment of “There is a lot of stress in their lives, their symptoms are wrongly attributed to that cause, while in the case of men, cardiovascular disease is correctly diagnosed.” This organization alerts women “about the need to take care of their health and give more importance to certain symptoms of cardiovascular diseases that, sometimes, at first, can be attributed to other causes.”
The most common type of heart disease in women, as in men, is coronary artery disease. There are, however, some types of heart diseases that are less common, but that affect women to a greater extent than men. For example, coronary microvascular disease. It is more difficult to diagnose because the blockages in the arteries are very small and more difficult to detect. It produces unexpected contractions and pain in the chest due to spasms. It is a heart problem that increases the risk of suffering a heart attack. Another problem can be broken heart syndrome. It also causes chest pain and can be confused with a heart attack. The cause is intense stress. Women are usually affected to a greater extent after the arrival of menopause.
Precisely, when it comes to pointing out which women are at greater risk of developing heart disease, we find that once menopause arrives the chances increase. Women can develop heart disease at any age, but their risk increases after their periods stop, which usually happens around age 55. Before that moment, the female body produces more estrogen, a substance that acts as a protector against possible heart problems. This is why women often develop coronary artery disease ten years later than men. During and after menopause, estrogen levels decrease and the risk of heart disease increases. Another factor that increases the risk is having a family history of heart problems.
Pregnancy is another time in life in which the body is subjected to greater stress than usual because various bodily changes that are negative for the heart can occur, such as increased blood pressure or the appearance of anemia. Endometriosis, diabetes, obesity and cholesterol are other problems to avoid. As a summary of the situation, a publication from the Spanish Society of Cardiology points out that “cardiovascular disease in women is more common than we think, more serious than we expect, we diagnose it less than we should and we treat it worse than we should.” what we believe.”
Heart attack symptoms in women may be different from those in men. The Texas Heart Institute warns that “many women who have a heart attack don’t know it. Women often feel burning in the upper abdomen and may experience dizziness, upset stomach, and sweating. Because they sometimes don’t notice the typical pain in the left half of the chest, many women may miss the symptoms that indicate they are having a heart attack.” These attacks are generally more severe in women than in men. The aforementioned Institute points out that “in the first year after a heart attack, women are 50 percent more likely to die than men. In the first six years after a heart attack, women are almost twice as likely to have a second attack.”