Dr Hilary Jones says that “twice as many women die of heart disease than breast cancer” after menopause, although they are less likely to get treatment.
Talking to Ranvir Singh on Lorraine, Dr Hilary Jones warns that because of the biases around what heart attacks in women look like, many medical professionals don’t immediately assume a woman is having a heart attack if she presents with chest pain, so it’s important to know the symptoms.
The warning comes as Coronation Street partnered with The British Heart Foundation this week to bring attention to the issue. The character Gail has a heart attack and is admitted to hospital.
“This is a really important storyline because twice as many women die of heart disease than they do of breast cancer,” he says. “And that’s something we don’t often talk about. Women don’t think they are at risk as much as men of heart disease but they certainly are after the menopause when they don’t have the protection that oestrogen gives them.”
He also warns, that contrary to what many people think, the symptoms of a heart attack are the same in men and women.
Symptoms of a heart attack
- Central chest pain: “A crushing, pressure-like pain that can radiate through to the back, down the arms, go into the neck, into the jaw.”
- Breathlessness
- Dizziness
- Sweating
- Nausea
Heart attacks don’t always present as sudden pain either, Dr Hilary Jones says. “Actually, you can have a silent heart attack without the pain, but breathlessness, that ‘grey’ feeling, a sense of impending doom, they are common symptoms as well. So if you’ve got a suspicion, go and get it checked.”
The doctor also warns that many post-menopausal women may be receiving “poorer treatment” because doctors “don’t always think” immediately of a heart attack when a female patient presents with chest pain.
Research from Edinburgh University found this to be true as they discovered women are 50% more likely to receive a delayed diagnosis or a wrong diagnosis of a heart attack than men.
Bringing home the importance of looking after the heart, the Coronation Street theme for this episode included the sounds of a heartbeat on an ECG machine, followed by a flatline.
“It’s dramatic and it reminds people that the heart is well worth looking after. We’ve only got one. It’s the size of our fist. It beats billions of times in our lifetime and we need to look after it,” Dr Jones says.
