Increase Awareness, Lower Risk
By Julia Boyle
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE
“Women come to me and say, ‘I used to be able to walk to stores in the mall without any problem. Now I have to stop walking right away.’ Or they complain about overall fatigue. They may be women who actually have heart disease,” says Vrinda Suneja, M.D., Erickson HealthSM medical director of Fox Run, a community in Michigan built and managed by Erickson.
In a survey by the American Heart Association (AHA), only 13 percent of women perceived heart disease as their greatest health concern. And only one in five of their physicians knew more women die each year from cardiovascular disease than men. This despite the fact that heart disease is the number one killer of women: 500,000 every year.
Her Unique Symptoms
Research shows most women believe chest pain is the most common symptom of a heart attack. But studies confirm what researchers have long suspected: when it comes to heart disease, women are different from men in symptoms they exhibit.
“Women come into the emergency room complaining of being overly fatigued and the doctors say, ‘You are just depressed.’ They give her an antidepressant and send her home. Then she comes back feeling short of breath and is sent home again as being hysterical. If she makes it in again, she is in the midst of a heart attack and it is too late. We are missing these symptoms every day,” says Jeanne Wei, M.D., professor and executive vice chair of the department of geriatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
Wei and Suneja agree both women and physicians are getting better at recognizing women’s signs of heart disease. Still, the AHA reports only 11 percent of women in one study correctly identified all the following symptoms and knew to call 911:
• Neck, shoulder and upper back, or abdominal discomfort
• Shortness of breath
• Nausea or vomiting
• Sweating
• Light-headedness or dizziness
• Unusual fatigue