​Cardiovascular health: Why women tend to miss risks of heart disease​

When it comes to identifying the risks associated with a heart disease, the female gender is at a greater disadvantage. There are several reasons behind it which we will be discussing in this article.


As per the World Health Organisation (WHO) data, close to 18 million people die due to heart complications each year. This data is alarming and hence makes it important for everyone to know more about heart diseases, the risks involved and to know the early symptoms that can help identify the disease and provide timely medical help.

We spoke to Dr. Gaurav Minocha, Director - Cardiology, Max Hospital, Vaishali who helped us understand why women are at more risk of dealing with cardiovascular complications.

"Heart disease in women is a common occurrence as in men however women seem to miss them and often present late to a doctor or emergency room," says Dr Minocha.

One of the biggest myths around heart diseases is that it does not affect women.

"An important reason would be just lack of awareness that heart disease is a risk for them too and it doesn’t affect the men only," says Dr Minocha.

"Heart disease may be considered by some to be more of a problem for men....Because some heart disease symptoms in women can differ from those in men, women may not know what to look for," says MayoClinic.

Women do not experience the classic signs of heart disease which men mostly feel.

"Another reason is that the symptoms in women may be atypical and typical severe crushing chest pain may not be felt by them.So heart attack can happen without them experiencing any chest pain," explains Dr Minocha.

"Chest heaviness, breathing difficulty, restlessness or feeling anxious and panicked, arm or shoulder discomfort, dizziness, abdominal discomfort, heartburn nausea or just feeling unwell can be symptoms of heart disease which are hence missed," says Dr Minocha.

These symptoms are seen in many other bodily issues as well which makes it easier to miss them.

"Women commonly mask their symptoms from family and tend to ignore them until severe leading to delay in diagnosis," says Dr Minocha stressing on one of the most common and obvious reasons why women miss heart disease signs.

"Socioeconomic reasons are also a known factor for delay in diagnosis and treatment of any health condition in women including heart disease," the doctor adds.

For women, there are few risk factors which trouble heart health.

Diabetes, stress and anxiety, smoking, physical inactivity, menopause, complications of pregnancy, having family history of heart diseases and having inflammatory diseases like Rheumatoid arthritis and lupus increase the risk of having cardiovascular complication.

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