Young women who report heart attack symptoms are more likely to have them dismissed by their providers as not being heart-related, a study led by the Yale School of Public Health has found.
The study examined the relationship between gender, self-reported symptoms, perception of symptoms and self-reported care-seeking among patients 55 years and
younger who were hospitalized for acute myocardial infarc- tion (AMI). The differences in AMI symptom presentation by gender have been studied in older populations, but less is known about younger patients.
Analysis of data from 2,009 women and 976 men collected from more than 100 hospitals showed that the majority of both men and women reported chest pain, pressure, tightness or discomfort as their main AMI symp- tom. Yet women were more likely than men to report other associated symptoms of heart attack, such as indigestion; shortness of breath; palpitations; or pain in the jaw, neck or arms. Women were also more likely to perceive their
symptoms as arising from stress or anxiety and were more likely than men to report that their health care providers did not think that their symptoms were heart-related.
“Although chest pain was the most common symptom for young women and men, the presentation of chest pain within the context of multiple symptoms may influ- ence the prompt recognition of heart disease for these young patients,” said lead author Judith H. Lichtman,
M.P.H. ’88, Ph.D. ’96, associate professor and chair of YSPH’s Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology.
The study results, as well as the increased mortality associated with AMI in younger women, indicate the need to both further investigate the variety of acute symptoms
of heart disease in younger patients and explore how symp- tom recognition influences patients’ care-seeking behaviors and early interactions with health care providers.
The study was funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health and published in the journal Circulation.