Women's Heart Health

Most women are unaware of the threat that cardiovascular disease poses. Called the "silent killer," heart disease is the number 1 killer of women. Heart disease causes more deaths than the next 7 causes combined -- including breast cancer. In fact, heart disease claims the lives of 1 out of every 3 women.

Moreover, two-thirds of women die from heart attacks, having never experienced any symptoms, pointing to the urgent need for both better education and early screening. It is critical for women to know: heart disease symptoms in women can be different from those in men.

While women may experience angina (chest pain that occurs when not enough oxygen reaches the heart muscle because of narrowed or blocked arteries), they are more likely to describe nausea, indigestion, back pain, or pain in one or both shoulders, arm, neck or jaw (mimicking toothache), dizziness, fatigue or numbness in the left shoulder and arm, instead of the "classic" chest pain.

Shortness of breath is an important and common accompanying symptom and may be associated with sweating and or palpitations.

Women more commonly have single vessel coronary artery disease as compared to men. Women also tend to die more frequently than men after a heart attack.

Unfortunately, many women often minimize or ignore their symptoms.

There are two types of risk factors for heart disease: uncontrollable and controllable. Uncontrollable risk factors are those you cannot change, including:

• Age
• Gender
• Family health history
• Previous heart attack or stroke

Controllable factors, however, you can change, which can lower your risk for heart disease. They include:

• Smoking
• High cholesterol and triglycerides
• High blood pressure
• Physical inactivity
• Excess weight
• Diabetes
• Excess alcohol intake
• Stress

If you have any of the controllable risk factors, talk to your doctor about how you can change them.

THE HEART HOSPITAL Baylor Plano offers cardiac rehabilitation to patients post-procedure, and it offers thr Leap for Life^® support program which provides free half-day education workshops to the public. This program covers risk factor modification, exercise, diet and nutrition, stress management, medications and more. Click here to find out more.