Are the symptoms of heart attack different for women?

Are the symptoms of heart attack different for women?

Rose Marie Robertson, MD, FAHA, FACC, FESC (Chief Science Officer and Past President of the Board of American Heart Association) gives expert video advice on: What do I do if I think I'm having a heart attack?; How can I examine myself for heart disease?; What questions should I ask my doctor if I am diagnosed with a heart condition? and more...

Actually in the best studies that have been done, the symptoms that women have with heart attacks really are the same as the symptoms that men have. However women tend to have their heart attacks when they're about ten years older,and people who are older are more likely to have the less common signs and symptoms of heart attack. At least, the ones that people think of less. So that when you're older, you're less likely to have chest pain with your heart attack. You might only have unusual fatigue or shortness of breath or lightheadedness and you might not really have symptoms in your chest or arm or shoulders. And since women are older, they may fall into the group that is a little less likely to have chest discomfort. But, in fact, the kind of chest discomfort they have when they have chest discomfort is the same as men describe. The mistake we make with both men and women is to ignore the chest discomfort that isn't really very severe, that could be put up with, because we think it couldn't be severe enough to be a heart attack. It doesn't have to be very severe pain to mean that heart muscle is being lost. Time lost is muscle lost and we don't want to lose any heart muscle that we can potentially save. So for both men and women, the key thing is to get to the hospital early.