By Oscar Parry
Australia’s national heart health awareness week Heart Week, May 5–11, is a chance for people to consider their heart health and take steps to reduce their risk of heart disease.
Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of illness and death among Australian women, taking more women’s lives than breast cancer each year.
Almost every hour, an Australian woman dies of heart disease and women are more likely to face worse outcomes after a heart attack compared to men.
Heart Foundation senior manager of healthcare programs and clinical strategy Natalie Raffoul said that while chest pain is the most common symptom of a heart attack in both men and women, data shows that women are more likely than men to have non-chest pain symptoms, including shortness of breath or difficulty breathing; pain that radiates down the arm, shoulders, back, neck, or jaw; dizziness or a faint feeling; sweating or cold chills; and nausea or vomiting.
“We know that women are less likely to be recognised in terms of their symptoms of heart attack,” Ms Raffoul said.
“These symptoms often are overlooked or are not triaged as fast as they are for men … so, as a woman, you experience greater delays in accessing treatment when experiencing a heart attack compared to men,” she said.
“Sadly, we also know that when women do get treated after experiencing a heart attack, they are more likely to experience worse outcomes – higher rates of mortality and complications compared to men.”
Ms Raffoul said that while further research is needed, possible reasons for these worse outcomes could be under-recognition of symptoms, delay in getting to hospital, or possible complications relating medicines and procedures that are used to treat heart attacks that need to be studied further.
“Historically, not a lot of women are represented in clinical trials in this research area. So, some of it might have to do with better understanding how women respond to the treatment strategies available in hospitals,” she said.
She said that while research has improved in this area, there is still room to improve.
Ms Raffoul said this could be anything that helps researchers prioritise the presence of women in their clinical trials and “research that’s funded to specifically answer questions about how women respond to treatments,” including those at risk or prone to certain types of heart conditions.
She said that risk factors among women for a higher chance of cardiovascular disease down the track may relate to complications during pregnancy – including a life-threatening high blood pressure experienced during pregnancy called preeclampsia, which can put women at higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease even years later.
“Another complication experienced during pregnancy is gestational diabetes, and now there’s some really strong data to suggest that … if you experienced gestational diabetes during pregnancy, your risk of developing a heart condition yourself is significantly higher down the track. Even five to ten years down the track,” Ms Raffoul said.
She said that polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) has also been linked with higher rates of cardiovascular disease and premature menopause or early menopause put women at higher risk of cardiovascular conditions in the future – due to the changes in hormones that women experience at that time, impacting their cholesterol levels and heightening their heart attack risk.
Ms Raffoul said the “traditional risk factors for heart disease absolutely apply to women too,” including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking, diabetes, and being overweight or obese.
As part of Heart Week, Heart Foundation is calling on anyone aged over 45 to see their GP regularly for a 20-minute, Medicare-subsidised heart health check – with some people eligible for these checks earlier, including First Nations people from 30 years and people living with diabetes from 35.
“For women, we’re absolutely calling out that if you have or do experience any of those conditions mentioned above … it’s even more important for you to see a doctor for that heart health check, and that might mean seeing them earlier than the age of 45,” Ms Raffoul said.
“People appreciate that heart disease is terrible and it might be our leading cause of death, but often they don’t recognise how personally relevant the condition is to themselves until it’s too late – until they’re unfortunately having an incident themselves,” she said
“We know only about half of eligible adult Australians even have their risk factors screened as they regularly should … people need a sort of a prompt to get them thinking about their heart health and prioritising it.”
Further details about Heart Week and other resources, including a heart age calculator, are available on the Heart Foundation website.
Details: heartfoundation.org.au/heart-week
