(PressMediaWire) New Haven, Conn. — Women under the age of 55 who
have suffered a heart attack did not quickly seek treatment for a
variety of reasons, including their uncertainty about whether
non-traditional symptoms such as fatigue, indigestion, and shoulder and
neck pain actually signal severe cardiovascular problems, Yale
university researchers report today.
Researchers led by Judith Lichtman,
associate professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public
Health, conducted in-depth telephone interviews with 30 women, with an
average age of 48, who recently had a heart attack. The interviews
explored the women’s initial recognition and response to symptoms,
their healthcare beliefs and their acute healthcare experiences. The
findings were presented Friday at the American Heart Association’s 9th
Scientific Forum on Quality of Care and Outcomes Research in
Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke in Baltimore.
Lichtman noted many of the women were surprised that their actual
symptoms differed from the “Hollywood heart attack” that they would
have expected.
“They wish that they had known that symptoms such as neck and
shoulder pain, abdominal discomfort that was easy to mistake for
indigestion, or unusual fatigue could signal a heart problem,” she
said. “They often said that TV doesn’t show examples of the symptoms
they experienced. If they knew, they would have responded to the
symptoms sooner.”
The report also describes the often complex internal dialogue that
led more than half of the women in the study to delay seeking treatment
for more than hour after their heart attack began.
Many of the women were uncertain about their symptoms, preferred to
take over-the- counter medications, were concerned about how they would
be treated by healthcare providers or cited competing time or family
demands as more important than their own health needs. Many of these
women said they experienced health system delays such as being triaged
for non-cardiac conditions, even though many presented with typical
heart disease symptoms.
While heart attacks among women under age 55 are responsible for
less than 5 percent of the cases of heart diseases, they still account
for 16,000 deaths and 40,000 hospitalizations annually.
Lichtman said, “There are large gaps in our understanding of the
symptoms young women experience or reasons they delay seeking prompt
care. Because heart disease is less common at this younger age, current
media campaigns and prevention messages do not appear to be reaching
this group.”
SOURCE: Yale University
