Cardiologists warn that women die from heart attacks twice as often as men

The leading cause of death in men is tumors, and in women it is cardiovascular diseases, especially heart attacks, strokes and heart failure. However, as the NHS’s latest Cardiovascular Health Strategy highlights, these types of conditions in women are “understudied, underdiagnosed and undertreated.”

A number of factors are behind this deficit, including that sufferers tend to think heart attacks “belong to men,” minimize symptoms, and delay consultation.

According to various studies by the Spanish Society of Cardiology (SEC), the risk of death from a heart attack in women is twice as high as in men (18% versus 9%), for several reasons, including the fact that only 39% patients recognize Symptoms are high – compared to 57% of men – so they take an average of 237 minutes to get to the emergency department from the onset of pain, while men take just 98 minutes.

Additionally, women experience cardiac arrest on average 10 years later than men, and therefore when they already have other conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, dementia or kidney failure that can make survival difficult.

However, “the culture has always believed that estrogen protects women from cardiovascular disease, so when they have any symptoms, it doesn’t occur to them that it could be a heart attack or something cardiovascular, and they do not immediately consult a doctor. “Consultation or emergency,” explains Leticia Fernandez-Friera, member of the Scientific Committee of the Women and Heart Project of the Spanish Society of Cardiology.

Additionally, it is traditionally believed that a heart attack causes crushing pain in the chest or heart, which can radiate to the left arm. But women may also have other symptoms, such as fatigue, vomiting, difficulty breathing, cold sweats and “some atypical symptoms, such as back or jaw pain, that are difficult to identify and associate with a heart attack,” explains the director of the Comprehensive Medical Center. . HM Hospitales Cardiovascular diseases.

Added to all this, as outlined in the Cardiovascular Health Strategy, is that the “caregiver role” that society assigns to women leads to a “refusal to take care of one’s own health.” In addition, they are the group with the worst work and economic conditions, which also affect cardiovascular health, as they tend to have the hardest jobs and have the worst habits, which lead to obesity, diabetes or a sedentary lifestyle, risk factors for all diseases. associated with the cardiovascular system, along with smoking and alcohol.

In fact, the incidence is increasing, which is associated with increasing aging and the growth of bad habits.

But the emphasis should not only be on women. The health system response is not always up to par, which is also highlighted in the Cardiovascular Health Strategy to improve the situation. When they come in for chest pain, sometimes the doctor diagnoses anxiety or stress and doesn’t connect it to heart disease. Likewise, periodic screenings are not always recommended for women who have hormonal changes during pregnancy, such as gestational diabetes or preeclampsia, which are also risk factors.