Heart concerns dismissed
WOMEN reporting symptoms of heart disease are often being told by doctors they have anxiety, indigestion or are stressed, a new report has found.
The Heart Foundation study, looking into the experiences of heart attack survivors, found that women fared worse than men at all stages of their health care — from their immediate treatment, posthospital care and general prevention advice.
The survey of more than 400 patients found women were less likely than men to be advised on how to reduce risk of heart disease, less likely to be referred to cardiac rehabilitation after leaving hospital, and significantly less likely than men to undergo procedures to restore blood flow to the heart or have bypass surgery.
Heart Foundation director of health strategy Julie Anne Mitchell said there were many reasons women were not on equal footing with men in relation to heart health.
This included recognition they had different heart attack symptoms to men, such as nausea, fatigue, shortness of breath, cold sweats, discomfort in the jaw, hands, arms or back.
“Time is everything in a heart attack,” Ms Mitchell said.
“We know women often disregard their symptoms and attribute them to other things, so they don’t get to hospital fast enough.
“And even when they do, as our research shows, they’re less likely to get the investigations done as commonly as men.
“Even after discharge their care is not as complete. We have to close the gap on awareness that heart disease is an issue of relevance to women.”
Thea McMartin said she was twice dismissed by her GP after she reported overwhelming tiredness, knife-like pains in her shoulder and electric-type chest pains two years ago.
“He didn’t take my blood pressure or listen to my chest,” Ms McMartin said.
“He said, ‘I get a lot of young mums who are overworked and tired. Go home. You’ll be fine’.”
The then 31-year-old was only referred for a heart stress test after dogged persistence.
The test revealed she had suffered a potentially fatal spontaneous coronary artery dissection, a tear inside an artery that carries blood to the heart.
“A lot of women are dismissed and told it’s just stress, or a muscle problem,” Ms McMartin said.
“I’d love for women to be listened to about their symptoms.”