Sometimes, women’s heart problems are not as quickly and efficiently picked up as men’s. There is a reason for this and here is why. This is from a website called Guardian.co.uk
Women’s heart problems may be misdiagnosed as symptoms of stress
Doctors may be slower to diagnose women with heart disease, because they suspect their symptoms are caused by stress. That’s the message from a study of 230 doctors. The delay could deprive women of treatments that protect against heart attacks.
What do we know already?
Heart disease, where the arteries get clogged with fatty deposits, is the most common cause of heart attacks. Although it’s more common among men, women get heart disease too. It tends to happen to older women. It is thought that the hormones that women produce before the menopause protect women against heart problems.
Yet we know that even older women are less likely than men to be diagnosed with heart disease. This may mean they don’t get the treatment they need to prevent a heart attack.
We don’t know for sure why women don’t get diagnosed. In the past, some doctors have thought of heart disease as mainly a man’s problem. Also, women often have different symptoms from men if they have a heart attack, so that can confuse the diagnosis. But doctors are now aware that women also get heart disease, and that they sometimes have different symptoms. So researchers are looking for other reasons that might affect the doctors’ judgements.
What does the new study say?
The study asked 230 doctors to read case studies giving details of a man aged 47 and a woman aged 56 who had symptoms suggesting heart disease. Women aged 56 and men aged 47 have an equal risk of having a heart attack. Half the case studies included reports that the patient had recently had a stressful experience or felt anxious. The other half of the case studies just described symptoms.
In the case studies that just concentrated on symptoms, the doctors were equally likely, whether that patient was male or female, to suspect heart disease, refer the patient to a heart specialist, or to prescribe medicine to help protect against a heart attack. But in case studies that included details of the patient’s stressful experience or anxiety, doctors reacted differently depending on the patient’s gender.
If the doctor was told that the woman had been stressed and seemed anxious, they were much less likely to diagnose her with heart disease, less likely to send her to a specialist, and less likely to give her heart medicine. However, knowing that a man was anxious or stressed didn’t make any difference to the diagnosis of heart disease.
The doctors thought that women’s symptoms of chest pain, difficulty breathing and an irregular heartbeat were more likely to be signs of stress than of heart disease. But they didn’t interpret the men’s symptoms in this way. The results were the same for men and women doctors.
Where does the study come from?
The study was carried out by researchers at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University in New York, USA. The results were presented at a medical conference, the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics scientific symposium. They haven’t been published in a medical journal, so we haven’t been able to look closely at the results.
What does this mean for me?
It’s important not to dismiss symptoms like chest pain or breathlessness. They can be signs of heart disease, for women as well as men. Stress can cause physical symptoms, but it’s important that doctors check for physical causes, rather than dismissing symptoms as the result of stress.
What should I do now?
If you’ve had symptoms like chest pain, irregular heartbeat or shortness of breath, it’s important to go to the doctor. If you’re not happy with their response, you can ask for a second opinion.
From:
Chiaramonte GR, Friend R, Jaffe A, et al. Gender Bias in the Diagnosis, Treatment, and Interpretation of CHD Symptoms: Two Experimental Studies with Internists and Family Physicians. Presented at the 20th annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics scientific symposium, Washington, October 12 2008.
To find out more about the symptoms of a heart attack, see our information on heart attack.
© BMJ Publishing Group Limited (“BMJ Group”) 2009
To Your Heart’s Health
Monique Hawkins
540-858-2885
mentormonique@gmail.com
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