Heart attack in women

General

In general, women still are significantly less affected by heart attacks than men. This is mainly due to the unhealthy lifestyle of the male sex, which is more sensitive to nicotine and alcohol consumption, as well as the Eating fatty foods tends. Nonetheless, heart attacks are also among women in industrialized countries, alongside strokes most common causes of death. In addition, women have been catching up with men in terms of the frequency of heart attacks for several years. This is mainly due to the fact that nicotine consumption is increasing among women. The heart attack in women sometimes manifests itself differently than in men, which is why it makes sense to deal with the topic.

Signs

Heart attacks occur in most cases as part of a Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) on. This is a disease of the Coronary arteries, so the arteries and veins that the Heart muscle provide blood and oxygen. In the vast majority of cases it is the result of one Vascular calcification (arteriosclerosis). Deposits in the walls of the vessels lead to a reduction in the vessel diameter, which means that less and less blood can be transported through the vessels over time. A Reduced blood flow to the muscle is the consequence. This is especially noticeable when the heart muscle needs a lot of oxygen, i.e. especially during physical exertion. In advanced stages, this can already be the case when climbing stairs and express itself as a key symptom of CHD: the Angina pectoris, in German Chest tightness.
Typically, this is not only expressed as a tight feeling in the chest area, as the name suggests, but is often called heartburn and Tearing behind the breastbone described. Similar to a full heart attack the pain can also radiate to the upper arms and hands, upper abdomen and back. Further consequences of a narrowing of the coronary arteries can be Cardiac arrhythmias, as well as a getting out of breath quickly with even a slight load.
Such complaints, which occur particularly during physical exertion, should therefore not be dismissed lightly. If a coronary artery disease is detected in time, worse things can possibly be prevented.

At what age do women get heart attacks?

Heart attacks occur especially in old age. The risk of a heart attack is increased in women over the age of 50. The risk of heart attacks is particularly high in the age group between 65 and 75. Furthermore, many different factors can cause a heart attack to occur earlier. The family history (heart attack in mother / grandmother / sister) should first be taken into account. Diabetes mellitus, coronary artery disease, atherosclerosis and an imbalance in blood lipids can also cause a heart attack at a young age.

Symptoms

Along with strokes, myocardial infarction is the most common cause of death in the industrialized countries of the world - for both women and men.The main symptoms of a heart attack are therefore well known to most. The aforementioned angina pectoris (chest tightness) is typical, which is accompanied by sudden pain behind the breastbone, which can also radiate into the left arm, neck, lower jaw, back and upper abdomen. The pain is often perceived as very threatening and can trigger fear of death. In technical jargon, it is therefore also referred to as the pain of annihilation. These often radiate into the surrounding body regions. This also includes the back. Especially in the area between the shoulder blades, pain during a heart attack or as a harbinger of one is often described.
What is less well known, however, is that up to 20% of all myocardial infarctions are uncomfortable, i.e. asymptomatic. The nature of the pain can also vary greatly from person to person.

It should be noted that heart attacks in women more often trigger a kind of pressure and tightness in the chest compared to men. Pulling in the left breast is not atypical either, but it can have various causes, especially in women. In women, unspecific symptoms such as nausea, vomiting and shortness of breath occur more frequently.
Other possible complaints are cold sweat, dizziness and an accelerated, but in some cases also slowed heartbeat. The simultaneous occurrence of several of these symptoms is particularly suspicious.
Heart attacks in women very often trigger rather unspecific warning signs of a heart attack and can easily mislead doctors into making a misdiagnosis. Unfortunately, unexplained back pain or upper abdominal complaints are sometimes assigned to a heart attack too late. So if symptoms such as back pain, cold sweating, shortness of breath and nausea appear in combination with one another, a heart attack should always be considered.

Additional information can be found here: Symptoms of a heart attack
Read more about the topic here: Troponin test

Back pain

The typical one pressing or stabbing pain of heart attack is often not perceived in the heart of women. Instead it radiates in the back between the shoulder blades. The nerves that transmit this pain stimulus to the brain are connected to other nerve plexuses on the way there. This interconnection means that the brain cannot always determine exactly where the pain is coming from. At the spinal cord level, there is a junction between the nerve that comes from the heart and the one that comes from the region between the shoulder blades. The The brain therefore confuses the origin of the pain and keeps feeling for back pain.

Left arm pain

The insufficient supply of nutrients to the heart can cause severe pain during a heart attack, which can also be presented as burning or stinging. Similar to back pain, arm pain is also due to a common interconnection of the pain-conducting nerves. One of the nerves that are connected in the same nerve network is the one that carries pain signals from the left arm into the brain. Because of this, be often not only felt pain in the chest area, but the feeling radiates into the left arm.

Read our related page on this topic: Pain in the left arm as a sign of a heart attack

shortness of breath

A heart attack is particularly common in women with the symptom of shortness of breath and the shortness of breath hand in hand. On the one hand, the shortness of breath can be explained by the sudden onset of pain and tightness in the chest. On the other hand, the body is put into a state of emergency at that moment, which means that it consumes significantly more oxygen and therefore has to absorb it. A heart attack is caused by a lack of blood supply to the heart muscle cells. Often times, the lack of oxygen is the biggest problem, so the body tries over increased oxygen uptake to compensate for the deficiency with breathing, resulting in shortness of breath and shortness of breath.

diarrhea

Especially with women nausea, Vomit and stomach pain a common symptom of a heart attack or an insufficient supply of the heart muscles. This can also lead to diarrhea. The inadequate cardiac output due to the heart attack also plays a role. Due to the weak heart, not enough blood is pumped into all organs of the body. There may be one Insufficient supply of the stomach and the various sections of the intestine. As a result, the regular digestive processes can no longer go their usual course, which can trigger diarrhea.

High blood pressure

The high blood pressure during a heart attack may seem paradoxical at first, because the heart's performance is classically reduced in a heart attack. This should usually result in low blood pressure as well. However, there are several mechanisms that can cause high blood pressure at the onset of the heart attack.
The heart tries its own first to compensate for a lack of performanceby pumping more intensely. This can lead to high blood pressure values. In addition, in the event of a heart attack, the Sympathetic (the active alarm system of the body, so to speak). This leads to an accelerated heartbeat and an increased punching power of the heart muscle. This mechanism generates higher blood pressure for a short time. However, this condition only lasts for a short time, after which all reserves of the heart are exhausted and the blood pressure drops rapidly.

heartburn

Heartburn occurs when acid from the stomach flows back into the esophagus through a leak. The stomach acid is particularly acidic with a pH value of 2-3 and immediately attacks the mucous membrane inside the esophagus. this leads to burning pain behind the breastbonewhich occur especially when lying down and after meals. A heart attack can also cause burning chest pain, which is why the symptom often confused with heartburn becomes. Furthermore, when lying down, more blood flows back into the heart, so that this larger amount of blood has to be handled by the heart. This can explain why the burning sensation occurs more often when lying down, even after a heart attack.

How does a heart attack differ between women and men?

Unlike men, women often do not experience the classic symptoms of a heart attack. Rather, they make themselves special unspecific signs noticeable. Often a heart attack goes with it nausea and Vomit hand in hand. stomach pain or general upper abdominal pain are also possible symptoms.
Men often experience severe pain or a stinging sensation in the heart area. Others report a feeling of tightness or pressure on the chest.
In women, however, the heart attack is more likely to show through shortness of breath and shortness of breath. Women should be one Sting feel, this is usually not in the chest area. Instead it radiates into the arms, especially the left arm or between the shoulder blades in the back out. Discomfort in the neck and jaw area can also occur. Also recurring dizziness, Fainting spells and fatigue can be symptoms of a heart attack and are more common in women without any other signs of a heart attack.

How does the heart attack progress in women?

Kick often unspecific signs such as nausea and vomiting days to weeks before a heart attack, but do not allow any conclusions to be drawn about the actual occurrence of the infarction. If symptoms persist for more than 5 minutes, a heart attack should be considered. Persistent signs for up to 30 minutes are possible. Usually the heart attack begins with sudden severe pain/ Stinging in the chest. This is accompanied by a feeling of tightness and pressure. In addition, there are often states of fear of death. Drops of sweat appear on the forehead of the person concerned and it is suddenly difficult to breathe. Often times, people break down and faint. The heart starts beating irregularly, so patients often need to be resuscitated. Since every minute counts during a heart attack, an ambulance should be informed in good time if there are minor signs. Because within the first 2 hours after the onset of the infarct it is decided how the further prognosis for acute and long-term consequences is.

diagnosis

Is it because of a Reduced blood flow to the heart muscle cells to a damage this, get different Proteins and Enzymes of cells into the blood. Since these should not usually be present in the blood or only in small quantities, they can be obtained via simple Blood draws to diagnose a heart attack. In particular, the protein "cardiac troponin"and the enzyme"CK-MB"of importance, which, however, has recently lost its importance. In addition, must meets at least one of three additional criteria so that a heart attack can be diagnosed. These criteria include Heart attack-typical changes in the EKG, the typical Chest pain or a recent surgery on a coronary artery.

The diagnosis is not always unproblematic. The characteristic blood values ​​of the above-mentioned heart attack markers only rise after a few hours. Main diagnostic tool therefore remains that of the patient in the first few hours described symptoms in combination with typical ECG changes, which are especially valuable because if a heart attack is suspected, an electrocardiogram is performed by the ambulance. If this is noticeable, medical treatment of the vascular constriction can sometimes be started while driving to the clinic.

You can find additional information here: Diagnosis of a heart attack

therapy

First aid

The prognosis of a myocardial infarction depends mainly on the first minutes to hours after the onset of the infarction. There Body cells can only survive without oxygen for a certain period of time, is a immediate adequate treatment vital to the future state of the heart. If the vascular occlusion is cleared within the first hour, it is by no means unlikely that the heart muscle will recover without permanent damage.

Hence, the best measure that can be taken by a medical layperson is this Immediate alerting of the ambulance service via the number 112 if a heart attack is suspected. However, it is strictly not recommended to drive to the clinic yourself, as a breakdown can occur while driving. Should as a result of the heart attack Cardiac arrest occur is one immediate cardiopulmonary resuscitation in form of a Heart pressure massage and one Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation necessary. Meanwhile, external ones are also found in many shopping centers and other public places Defibrillators available that are very easy to use, even for laypeople, and are often more effective than simple chest compressions.

Care by the rescue service

Once the rescue service has arrived, they first conduct a quick clinical examination, including Blood pressure measurement and Listening to the heart using a stethoscope. Thanks to a quickly feasible EKGs can often be the so-called heart attack-typical ST extension-elevation detect. Based on this, the urgency of the infarct can be assessed. About a IV catheters can now a medical therapy to be started. In addition to the gift of Painkillers and anticoagulant drugs above all there is one Securing the oxygen supply of the patient in the foreground, which is achieved by administering oxygen using an oxygen mask as required. Additionally can Medicines for nausea and for calming the patient administered.

Therapy in the clinic

When you arrive at the clinic, the ultimate goal is one Open the closed or at least severely narrowed coronary artery as quickly as possible. This can be done using a variety of methods. In the primary percutaneous coronary intervention, colloquially often simply as Cardiac catheter called, a very thin cardiac catheter is advanced through a vein in the thigh to the closed blood vessel, which then causes the coronary artery to reopen mechanically. In this case a Stent used. The second possibility is the so-called Lysis therapy, taking a venous access Blood clot dissolving agent is administered. Depending on the equipment of the rescue service, this can also be done in the ambulance. Depending on the need and availability, both methods are used in combination.

Treatment of heart attack patients is usually done on the Intensive care unit, since there is better monitoring of the patient here. A discharge home is often possible after 5 to 8 days. However, in most cases after a heart attack is one lifelong medication use necessary to avoid new infarcts. Various drugs such as Blood pressure- and Lipid lowering drugs, such as Anticoagulants prescribed. Also bringing in one implantable defibrillator to protect against sudden cardiac arrest or the onset of a Bypasses to secure the blood supply to the heart may be necessary.

consequences

As already mentioned, the first few hours after the onset of the heart attack are decisive for the patient's prognosis. As a result, the consequences of a heart attack can be very far-reaching to largely minor, depending on the start of therapy. The good news is that the Acute mortality rate has almost halved since the 80s and now comparatively low fails. Frequent lasting effects are having a heart attack Cardiac arrhythmias and above all one that is differently pronounced depending on the size of the infarct area Heart failure (heart failure). The latter manifests itself in a reduced resilience of the person concerned. In addition, there is now a increased tendency to develop blood clots. Especially a heart attack Women In the course of cardiological diseases, especially in the elderly, this also increases Risk of cognitive problems. Attention disorders, word-finding disorders and disorientation are not infrequently observed.

prevention

In principle, heart attack prevention is not complicated and corresponds to the general principles of a healthy lifestyle. In this way, the most important risk factors can be counteracted well. These include above all high blood lipids and Obesity, high blood pressure, Smoke, diabetes and stress. Most of these problems can easily be counteracted. The magic words are here Move and healthy eating.

Here you will find more information: Cause of a heart attack

Move fulfills several functions at the same time. On the one hand, be through it excess fat reserves broken down, as well as the Blood fat and blood sugar levels normalized. On the other hand it mainly affects Endurance sports positive for high blood pressure off and trains the heart muscles. A low-fat diet that is at least partially balanced also supports this. Lots of vegetables and fruits, as well as vegetable fats like olive oil, which are high in unsaturated fatty acids, instead of animal fats are the best remedy for one heart healthy nutrition. Going for an hour's walk several times a week or doing other endurance sports in combination with a good diet is far superior to any medication and completely free of side effects. There is no more effective and cheaper method of preventing (renewed) heart attacks.