Contrary to popular belief, women comprise 60% of all heart attack related deaths in the United States. This number is astounding. In addition, it is also disturbing to note that women are more likely to die from heart disease than men. One of the main reasons for this is that women tend to ignore the early warning signs of an impending attack. Why? Most of the symptoms occurring in women are vague and generally resemble other less threatening conditions. Unfortunately, this leads women to delay seeking treatment because they do not understand their risks.

While risk factors remain the same for both men and women, compelling evidence suggests that women respond differently than men due to preconceived notions about heart disease, and do not seek treatment as early as they should. Women tend to be older with higher incidence of hypertension, higher cholesterol and blood sugar levels, but are less likely to be smokers. Women view heart disease as primarily a disease of men and never consider that their symptoms could be heart disease related. This could have dire repercussions should a heart attack ensue.

The most common symptoms for women include shoulder and abdominal pain, nausea, shortness of breath and fatigue. As you can see these symptoms are pretty general, which is why most women do not associate them with a heart attack. By ignoring these symptoms, women are denying themselves the ability to survive a devastating heart attack. The problem with delaying treatment is that the longer a woman goes without help, the more damage that can occur to the heart muscle. Generally, women who have had a heart attack will experience another one within five years.

It is disturbing to report that women who enter an emergency room are less likely to receive prompt validation that she is experiencing a heart attack. This also results in a delay of admittance to the cardiac unit as well as receiving life-saving thrombolytic medications. Men however, receive swift and punctual attention. For this reason, women’s mortality rates are higher than men when experiencing a heart attack event.

It is a proven fact that women tend to have a higher fatality rate than men when it comes to heart disease problems. Nevertheless, many women are still relatively unclear about the danger this disease causes. Heart disease symptoms should not be ignore and women must learn to recognize them and seek treatment early.

Barb Hicks is an established writer and registered nurse who loves to share her knowledge about Human Heart Anatomy with others. She has more articles including Symptoms of Heart Blockage on Clivir.com.