February is Heart Health Month and this year’s Nationwide Awareness Campaign is focused on heart disease being the leading cause of death for women worldwide.
While the likelihood is higher for men then women, Interior Health Coordinator for Chronic Disease Management, Meghan Brothers said, women are more likely than men to die in the year following a heart attack.
“Women are under diagnosed and under treated because heart attack symptoms are not recognized in over 50 percent of women. And women have unique anatomy that leads to heart attacks tending to be more serious and treated later. Whereas men often show with traditional chest pain women usually show with 3 or more symptoms that could be a little misleading.”
Brothers said while women may have chest pain they might also have sweating, shortness of breath, stomach pain, nausea or tiredness, so if you have 3 or more of these symptoms it’s definitely a sign to get that checked out even if you don’t have the direct chest pain.
We asked Brothers if there was a specific age range when people should be paying more attention to their heart health.
“Definitely as you age it puts you at higher risk but there is a high percentage of people having heart attacks in their 40’s and 50’s so that’s when the preventative screening should start happening,” Brothers said, “There is a strong genetic component so if your parents, grandparents, or siblings have had any heart disease that puts you at much higher risk.”
Brothers noted its never too early to start avoiding heart disease by staying active, eating a variety of healthy foods, manage stress, avoid tobacco and vaping, get regular checkups, and be tested for blood sugars, blood pressure, and your cholesterol.
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