There has been an increase of heart attacks in women under the age of 50, and medical experts are unsure why.
John Hopkins Medicine has reported that while the rates of heart attacks has fallen within the older generation, they have risen among those aged 35-54 - especially in women.
The Daily Record reports that because older age is a risk factor in heart attacks, the condition in younger people could be missed.
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There is also confusion between the difference in a heart disease between men and women, according to medical website Medscape. However, experts argue that if a woman mentions chest pain to a GP, then a heart attack should be deemed as a possibility until it is ruled out.
There are a number of symptoms women should be aware of, that could be signs of a heart disease. The latest research has clarified signs in women aged under 50, reports the Mirror.
Listed below are the common symptoms of a heart attack, aimed at younger women.
Symptoms of heart disease
According to the NHS, symptoms of a heart attack can include:
- Chest pain – a feeling of pressure, heaviness, tightness or squeezing across your chest
- Pain in other parts of the body – it can feel as if the pain is spreading from your chest to your arms (usually the left arm, but it can affect both arms), jaw, neck, back and tummy
- Feeling lightheaded or dizzy
- Sweating
- Shortness of breath
- Feeling sick (nausea) or being sick (vomiting)
- An overwhelming feeling of anxiety (similar to a panic attack)
- Coughing or wheezing
As the chest pain is thought to always be severe, many people put mild chest pain down to other issues, like indigestion. But, some people who are having a heart attack only feel mild chest pain.
Chest pain is also the most common symptom among both men and women. However, women are more likely to experience other symptoms such as shortness of breath, feeling or being sick and back or jaw pain.
Latest findings that help clarify warning signs in women under 50
In general, women are more likely to have a heart attack than men are. Any preconceived ideas on female heart issues have been challenged in the newest study, presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress.
Cardiology expert Stéphane Manzo-Silberman told Medscape: “With more than 90 percent having retrosternal (behind the breastbone) pain, the idea that myocardial infarction (heart attack) presents with atypical symptoms in women [...] has been widely challenged.
“[This is] despite the fact that more than half present with related symptoms and it isn’t known in which order these symptoms occur.
“But what we can say is that if at any point a young woman mentions chest pain, even when occurring as part of several other symptoms, myocardial infarction must be deemed a possibility until it has been ruled out.”
This research involved 314 women, with an average age of 44.9 years. According to the study, nearly two-thirds showed ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (heart attack) and the other 122 without.
As their symptoms were analysed, the findings revealed that 91.6 per cent of the women experienced typical chest pain, with 59.7 per cent having related symptoms.
Cardiovascular disease, which encompasses heart attacks, heart failure, and heart rhythm problems, is a leading cause of death for women.
While risk factors are similar for men and women, the latter can present specific triggers related to high-risk inflammatory profiles or hormonal changes.
One possible explanation for differences in how each sex is affected, is that men typically develop plaque build-up in the large arteries which supply blood to the heart.
Whereas, women are more likely to develop a fatty build-up in the heart’s smallest blood vessels. This has led researchers to believe that symptoms differ quite significantly across both men and women.
As the features of a heart attack in women under the age of 50 were addressed, the latest findings have also challenged several preconceived ideas about sex differences in heart disease.
In previous studies, research published in the journal Circulation in 2003, chest pain was identified as the most common warning sign among men. The findings suggested that chest pain is further down the list of early heart attack symptoms for women.
Women tend to note that they feel more pressure, aching, and tightness in the chest, as opposed to pain. Even during a heart attack, just a third of women in the study reported the classic symptom of chest pain.
Scientists also found that a looming heart attack was often triggered by shortness of breath, weakness, fatigue, sweat and dizziness. This has led researchers to believe that looking out for these symptoms could help women avert a full-blown cardiac event.
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