Woman and heart consultation
Do women's hearts beat differently?
Women are generally said to have "more heart" and are considered to be more emotional than men. But what about the heart as an organ? What are the differences between women's and men's hearts?
Are there different heart diseases depending on gender?
From an anatomical point of view, men's and women's hearts are not different at the time of birth. However, female hormones have an enormous influence on our bodies, for example on the blood vessels, fat formation in the body, metabolism and blood pressure. Many women also take additional hormones. This influences the development of arteriosclerosis in the blood vessels and changes the thickness and elasticity of the heart muscle. However, these changes occur later than in men due to the protection provided by oestrogen. Microvascular diseases, i.e. diseases of the very small vessels, are more common in women. This also explains why stress myocardial infarction, known as Takotsubo syndrome, occurs in around 90 % of cases in women and only in around 10 % of cases in men. Heart attacks in women generally only occur at an advanced age. As a cause of death, however, cardiovascular diseases are equally common in men and women.
Why is so little known about women's hearts?
For a long time, studies on new cardiac drugs, cardiac interventions or modern examination procedures were mainly carried out on men. A lot of data was collected on the male body and the findings were then transferred to the female body. However, due to the female cycle and other factors, women's bodies react differently to men's bodies.
Only recently have the female and male organisms been researched separately. As a result, comparatively little is known about the special features of the female body and its organs. In this respect, the female heart is no exception.
Heart attack in women
The "classic" symptoms of a heart attack are familiar to the general population. These include pain that initially starts behind the breastbone. It can then radiate to the neck, lower jaw, back, arms or upper abdomen.
In women, however, a heart attack is often also noticeable through other signs. These include shortness of breath or breathlessness, sweating, back pain, nausea and vomiting, pain in the upper abdomen, a pulling sensation in the arms, unexplained tiredness or depression. With these unspecific symptoms, the first thought is not necessarily of a heart attack. Therefore, in many cases, neither the patients themselves nor the doctors treating them suspect a heart attack.
In addition, many women do not go to the doctor immediately, as they usually assume that the symptoms mentioned are harmless. As a result, they generally wait a few days before seeing a doctor to see if the symptoms subside on their own. This is fatal, because every minute counts in the event of a heart attack! If you do decide to see a doctor, appropriate treatment is by no means guaranteed. In some cases, even GPs do not know that the symptoms described could indicate a heart attack. Often only the "classic" signs of a heart attack are correctly interpreted. The atypical symptoms, which can also occur in women during a heart attack, are often misinterpreted. As a result, in many cases it takes longer for women to receive the correct diagnosis. But without a correct diagnosis, they cannot be treated appropriately. Advice on taking medication is particularly important for women, as their compliance with medication is significantly poorer than that of men.
During consultation hours, we doctors and our practice team try to correctly interpret, clarify and treat the symptoms in women too. In this way, we hope to offer the female population adequate cardiac care.
