Listen to YOUR HEART

Think you know everything you need to about women's heart health? It's time to read this

- AMBER BRAMBLE

Growing up, many of us believed that heart disease was something that women didn’t need to worry about. These days, we know that it’s not only common, but also the leading cause of death for women globally and second only to dementia in Australia.

Cardiologist and heart failure specialist Dr Monique Watts says that women have traditionally been excluded from medical research into heart disease. While that has started to change, there are still a number of remaining myths that can prevent women from receiving timely and life-saving treatment. “The belief that heart disease is a disease of men needs to be challenged and changed,” she says.

Because the symptoms for women often differ from the “Hollywood heart attack” we’ve seen in movies, it’s crucial to know the signs. “Heart disease is a leading killer of Australian women, killing more women each year than breast cancer, more than ovarian cancer, more than any cancer,” Dr Watts says.

WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS?

“The most frequent symptom of a heart attack in a women is chest discomfort. This can feel like a pain, a squeezing, a heaviness or even just a tightness,” Dr Watts explains. “Sometimes there are associated symptoms such as breathlessness, fatigue, dizziness, clamminess or nausea. These are important to report, but can be distracting to investigating doctors.”