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Heart attacks: All hearts are NOT created equal

  • Published
  • By Diane Mayer
  • TriWest Healthcare Alliance
PHOENIX, ARIZ. --  You may have heard that heart disease is the number one cause of death in the United States. What fewer people may know is that women are less likely to survive heart attacks than men.

In fact, 38 percent of women compared with 25 percent of men will die within one year after a heart attack, according to the American Heart Association.

Here are some key facts:
· More women than men die of stroke.
· The risk of heart disease and stroke increases with age.
· Diagnosis of heart disease presents a greater challenge in women than in men.

As with men, women's most common heart attack symptom is chest pain or discomfort. However, women are more likely than men to experience some of the other common symptoms such as shortness of breath, nausea or vomiting and back or jaw pain. Additionally, women tend to delay longer than men in getting help for a possible heart attack.

The best way to survive a heart attack is to prevent having one in the first place. For both men and women, the biggest risk factors that contribute to heart disease are smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, family history and age. Take a moment to look at your lifestyle, family history and your general health.

Need more information? Visit www.triwest.com>beneficiary services>Healthy Living>Condition Management>Heart Disease. Other valuable Web resources are the American Heart Association (www.heart.org) and the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute-NIH (www.nhlbi.nih.gov).

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