Heart Attack Symptoms Overlooked by Most Young Women

Worried that they may initiate a false alarm, young women tend to ignore symptoms of heart attacks, such as pain or giddiness, and do not immediately seek emergency medical care, according to new research.

"Young women with multiple risk factors and a strong family history of cardiac disease should not assume they are too young to have a heart attack," said lead researcher Judith Lichtman, associate professor at Yale School of Public Health, according to indianexpress.com.

To help them in the study, the researchers probed into the experiences of 30 women aged between 30 to 55 years, who were hospitalized with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) or heart attack.

"Participants in our study said they were concerned about initiating a false alarm in case their symptoms were due to something other than a heart attack," said Lichtman.

"Identifying strategies to empower women to recognize symptoms and seek prompt care without stigma or perceived judgment may be particularly critical for young women at an increased risk for heart disease," she pointed out.

The team of researchers had gone deep into personal lives of young women and discovered that patients did not accurately estimate their personal risks of heart disease.

More than 15,000 US women alone, under the age of 55 years, die from heart disease, which in fact has made it the chief cause for death in many young women, noted the researchers.

"In addition to promoting knowledge about heart disease and encouraging more prompt care-seeking behaviour, another important goal for this population of women is improving preventive heart care," said Lichtman.

There is in fact a need to create more awareness for women about the early symptoms of heart attack, and to alter the manner in which women and medical teams react to such symptoms, said study senior author Leslie Curry, a senior research scientist at the Yale Global Health Leadership Institute, according to health.usnews.com.

The study appeared in the journal 'Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes'.