These 6 heart attack symptoms in women are key signs to look out for, doctorshare
Heart disease is the leading cause of death among women in the United States, killing more than 300,000 every year — yet only about half of women are aware of the risks, signs and symptoms of heart attacks.
On National Wear Red
Day, which is observed on Feb. 2 to raise awareness for cardiovascular disease,
CBS News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook joined "CBS Mornings" to
share what women should know.
While rates have
decreased in the past 20 years, LaPook says far too many are still dying from
heart disease.
"It's a dangerous
misconception that heart disease is somehow exclusively a male disease,"
he said. "It's the No. 1 killer in women. There's a reason why we're
wearing red today, and that's to bring attention to this, because attention and
understanding translates to save lives."
Signs of heart attack in women
For women, LaPook says
the most common symptoms of heart attacks include:
However, there can be
some more atypical symptoms, including:
There are several risk
factors when it comes to heart disease, including:
"Access to care
is another thing," LaPook adds. "You have to be able to actually see
a doctor."
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He also pleads:
"No smoking!" "That's one of the big reasons for the drop
is the decline in smoking," he notes.
Is there a screening for heart disease?
Knowing your numbers
early on — for things like weight, blood pressure and
more — is the best way to keep an eye on heart health.
"It's not
something where you want to wait until you have symptoms and then say, 'OK, now
I'm going to really get into it.' This should be a lifelong thing. So, from
birth, you want to have healthy habits," LaPook says. That includes
maintaining a healthy weight and knowing "what your numbers are."
"High blood
pressure is silent very often, so you want to know those numbers. You want to
make sure you're not diabetic, you want to make sure your lipids are OK."
Pregnancy is a
"big stress test," LaPook says. Just like you wouldn't start training
the day before running a marathon, he explains you also want to go into
pregnancy with good overall health.
"Part of that
means access to care, making sure that you know your numbers, that you're the
right weight," he says. He also noted the heightened concerns for Black women, who face
an increased mortality rate during
pregnancy.
"It's a problem
that's been addressed, but sporadically and not well enough, and the reasons
for it are multifactorial — it's social determinants of health," LaPook
said. "If you don't have access to good housing and good food and access to
care, and then on top of that, of course, we know there's implicit bias, and
these all combined to increase mortality for Black women.”
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