Women More At Risk For Heart Disease, Study States

Men and women are not equal...when it comes to heart attacks, at least. According to a new statement by the American Heart Association, often the symptoms and causes are different. The Heart Association found twenty-six percent of women die in the first year after a heart attack, compared to 19 percent of men. Also, complication rates are higher for women during treatment. And while chest pain is still the most common symptom for men and women, women are more likely than men to have atypical symptoms such as fatigue, nausea, or pain that is not in the chest. In fact, 42 percent of women experience no chest pain at all. Dr. Holly Andersen is a cardiologist with the Perelman Heart Institute at New York-Presbyterian. She said, "Heart disease in women is under researched, under-diagnosed and under-treated."