Symptoms of heart attack that women should be alert to

The symptoms of heart attacks in women are often more diffuse and unclear than in men.
“If you are even slightly unsure, you should call 911 and let someone else decide,” says Jan Nilsson, professor, senior physician, and heart specialist. Here are a number of signs of heart attacks that women should be extra vigilant about.

Cardiovascular disease is the most common cause of death among women. At the same time, the signs of a heart attack, for example, are often more vague and unclear in women than in men.

This makes it a bit tricky.

“The symptoms are not as clear in women as they are in men. They are a bit more diffuse, especially in younger women. There is quite a lot of research on this,” says Jan Nilsson, professor, senior physician, and heart specialist at Skåne University Hospital, as well as medical expert at the Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation.

Here are a number of symptoms of a heart attack where the signs may be a little less clear and where women should be a little extra vigilant, according to Jan Nilsson.

An uncomfortable pressure across the chest

– The most common symptom. It is usually described as a band-like pain across the chest that is difficult to pinpoint. This pain is associated with anxiety and can cause feelings of panic, which is typical of pain originating from internal organs. 

“It is not a pain where you can point to an exact spot and say, ‘it hurts here,’ but rather a broader and more diffuse pain. If the pain is constant for more than 15 minutes, it should be taken seriously. Pain that ‘stabs’ is not typical of a heart attack, says Jan Nilsson. 

Pain that radiates to the jaw

“The fact that pain can radiate to the left arm is fairly well known. What is less well known, however, is that it can radiate up to the jaw, similar to toothache. With normal toothache, you can often press on the tooth and it hurts. This is not the case if the heart is causing the symptoms.

– But if you are in any doubt, you should call 911 and let someone else decide. You should definitely not order a taxi or get in your own car and drive to the hospital, as a lot can happen in the acute phase that can be taken care of in the ambulance – for example, cardiac fibrillation.

Heart attacks can cause breathing difficulties

According to Jan Nilsson, heart attacks can also cause pain that radiates down to the stomach and feels a bit like gastritis. Even more or less vague back pain can occur as a direct symptom of a heart attack:

“Pain high up in the back is more commonly described in women. You may also experience breathing difficulties, which can be uncomfortable, but this is often linked to the anxiety that a heart attack can cause. If it is a major heart attack, it can lead to acute heart failure. It can also cause breathing difficulties and impaired circulation. In this case, the symptoms are very severe. 

Nausea, dizziness, and cold sweats

“These are feelings of panic that the body signals. The anxiety is linked to the nausea, as are the feelings of dizziness. All of this is related to enormous stress and is caused by the heart attack itself,” says Jan Nilsson. 

Women take the lead in the statistics

Women are affected by heart attacks to the same extent as men, but it often happens later in life. One reason is believed to be that estrogen may have a protective effect before menopause, according to the Heart-Lung Foundation. 

For men, the risk of heart attack increases around the age of 60. 

For women, it is about ten years later in life.

“The big difference in the risk of heart attack between men and women is before menopause, basically before the age of 60. For women, the risk increases at 70. But over the years, it evens out. Women also live slightly longer than men on average, which means that women eventually take the lead in the statistics. And the older you get, the shorter your survival rate after a heart attack.

This is primarily because you have become older. Nowadays, however, survival after a heart attack is very good. If you go back in time, for example to the 1980s, the largest number of patients died within a year of a heart attack – even if they had survived the acute phase.

Great progress has been made in the treatment of heart attacks

Nowadays, the expected survival rate after a heart attack is up to 15 years:

“If you are 90 years old, you should not expect to live another 15 years. That possibility is greater if you suffer a heart attack at the age of 60. Enormous progress has been made, both in the acute phase of treatment to reduce damage to the heart and in preventive treatment. The risk of dying from a heart attack today has decreased dramatically, says Jan Nilsson.

THE HEART SPECIALIST’S BEST ADVICE FOR AVOIDING A HEART ATTACK:

• Don’t smoke. “This is particularly important for women, as we are seeing a worrying trend of younger women starting to smoke more,” says Jan Nilsson.
• Maintain a healthy weight. Exercise regularly and try to maintain a healthy weight. “It doesn’t have to be anything extreme, just a 30-minute walk every day. A few days a week, you should also exercise enough to work up a sweat.”
• Don’t sit still. “It’s so easy to get stuck in front of your computer screen all day. Just skipping the chair and standing up makes a difference. It takes more than twice as much muscle to keep your body standing as it does to keep it sitting. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Go and have a coffee with your colleagues in the lunch room instead of in front of your computer.”