Time Is Muscle For The Heart
The heart is a muscle, and once its damaged there is little we can do to repair it. Even if you have few or no symptoms, after the heart is damaged by an episode that cuts it off from oxygen the chances increase for heart failure, arrhythmias, heart attack, and disability.
If you have an identified heart attack or if you arent satisfied with your initial diagnosis, seek timely follow-up care as soon as possible. A primary care physician can help you control cardiovascular conditions such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or diabetesand they can refer you to a cardiologist for specialized care to prevent or treat damage from heart disease as well.
At MedStar Health, we offer a Cardiac Rehabilitation Program that has been shown to increase the chance of living a longer, higher quality of life after a heart attack. Patients who participate in the program can achieve less pain, more strength, and a reduced risk of future heart events.
The holistic program is covered by most insurances and includes:
- Personalized physical therapy in our cardiac gym
- Specialized cardiovascular monitoring
- Nutrition and exercise education
- Weekly support group meetings
Take our free women’s heart disease risk assessment.
Rodney And Lace Make Up ‘the Most Shocking Couple In Paradise History’
“Im a little shocked. Im a little confused,” Rodney told the cameras after finding out that Teddi had left the beach. “I definitely enjoyed my conversation with Teddi. I did want to go on a date and see where it goes.”
With a date card burning a hole in Rodney’s pocket, Brandon encouraged his pal to seek out Jill, Victoria or Brittany, but Michelle Young‘s ex ultimately decided not to ask anyone out and make them feel like a “number two pick.”
Instead, he started chatting up Jill on the beach, but Lace was determined to catch his attention. When she did just that, Rodney confessed that she is his type, which thrilled Lace.
“Rodney lights up my fire,” she said in a confessional. “… I feel its time that I get a healthy relationship and a really good man that I havent had in a long time. I almost feel like this could be it right here with him.”
As they admitted they shared a kiss during a walk on the beach, Jill was left sad and Justin was left confused. “This may be the most shocking couple in Paradise history,” he stated.
Why Heart Disease In Women Is So Often Missed Or Dismissed
New research shows that women may not realize their symptoms point to heart trouble, and that medical providers arent picking up on it either.
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Heart disease is the leading cause of death among men and women in America, killing nearly 700,000 people a year. But studies have long shown that women are more likely than men to dismiss the warning signs of a heart attack, sometimes waiting hours or longer to call 911 or go to a hospital.
Now researchers are trying to figure out why. They have found that women often hesitate to get help because they tend to have more subtle heart attack symptoms than men but even when they do go to the hospital, health care providers are more likely to downplay their symptoms or delay treating them. Health authorities say that heart disease in women remains widely underdiagnosed and under treated, and that these factors contribute to worse outcomes among women and heightened rates of death from the disease.
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When It Comes To Your Heart Health Refuse To Take No For An Answer
The bottom line is that you need to take the bull by the horns. If youre a woman of any age and have significant risk factors for a heart attack, or if you have any suspicious symptoms even in the absence of risk factors, get an evaluationdemand it! If you have a family history of heart disease, you want to be twice as aggressive.
Women who have a family history of early heart disease have up to three times greater risk of developing arterial disease than someone without this genetic baggage. Make sure your doctor knows your familys medical history and orders appropriate screening tests.
What Can You Do
Stay informed. If you are aware of the hidden symptoms of heart attacks in young women, it could save your life or the life of someone you know. Furthermore, if someone experiences these symptoms, they should not brush them off as normal aches or pains. As soon as someone is showing symptoms, they should seek immediate medical attention to avoid long lasting negative effects, or worse.
You can take concrete measures to prevent premature heart attacks. As mentioned above, being able to identify the less common symptoms and have plan of what to do if you experience them, is a great start. In addition to awareness, you should be exercising regularly and maintaining a healthy diet, keeping an eye on your blood pressure, and avoiding smoking. Make sure you visit a cardiologist if you have any heightened risk of cardiovascular disease including excess weight or family history.
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American Heart Association News Stories
American Heart Association News covers heart disease, stroke and related health issues. Not all views expressed in American Heart Association News stories reflect the official position of the American Heart Association. Statements, conclusions, accuracy and reliability of studies published in American Heart Association scientific journals or presented at American Heart Association scientific meetings are solely those of the study authors and do not necessarily reflect the American Heart Associations official guidance, policies or positions.
Copyright is owned or held by the American Heart Association, Inc., and all rights are reserved. Permission is granted, at no cost and without need for further request, for individuals, media outlets, and non-commercial education and awareness efforts to link to, quote, excerpt or reprint from these stories in any medium as long as no text is altered and proper attribution is made to American Heart Association News.
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Examining Heart Disease Symptoms Care And Risk Reduction For Young Women
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If you are experiencing a medical emergency, please call 911 or seek care at an emergency room.
Heart disease remains the number one killer of U.S. adults, and the number of young women having heart attackssometimes without realizing itis increasing at an alarming rate.
According to a study published in Circulation, the number of heart attacks among young patients increased from 27% in 1995-1999 to 32% in 2010-2014. Among these young patients, the largest increase was among women, particularly Black women.
Seeing young patients in our heart clinic is no longer unusualI see patients in their 20s and 30s who come to me with heart disease. Historically, most patients with cardiovascular disease tend to be over age 55, but it can happen to anyone.
For example, one of my young patients is a female health care professional who recently had a heart attack. Despite working in a health care environment, she delayed going to the hospital because of atypical symptoms and concern that she would be sent home with a diagnosis of heartburn or anxiety.
Her story is unfortunately common. For many years, heart disease and heart attack have been incorrectly perceived as mens diseases, leading patients and providers to look for classic symptoms that present in men, such as crushing chest pain.
- Pain or discomfort in the upper body
- Shortness of breath
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Causing Heart Attacks Differently
Typical heart attacks are caused by plaque and a blood clot that blocks a heart artery. But SCAD starts with a tear or bleed in the wall of a heart artery that blocks blood flow to the heart, causing a heart attack.
SCAD patients are generally healthy. They have no or few risk factors like smoking, being overweight or having diabetes. So even if they seek treatment for classic heart attack symptoms, theyre often misdiagnosed with problems like anxiety or indigestion. Misdiagnosis can lead to treatment that may cause more damage.
Symptoms of SCAD include:
- Pain in the shoulders, arms, back, neck or jaw
- Nausea, lightheadedness and sweating
Women Have More Unusual Types Of Heart Attacks
Along with being more prone to SCAD than men, women are also more likely to experience other less-common types of heart attacks.
For example, as the AHA describes, women make up the bulk of cases of what is known as myocardial infarction with nonobstructive coronary arteries . In these cases, the arteries leading to the heart may appear normal, so the angiogram test used to detect blockages can leave doctors perplexed.
But extra sleuthing can reveal the underlying reason for these heart attacks, as researchers at New York University discovered. Different imaging tests can often identify the cause of MINOCAs, such as spasms in the arteries or hidden plaque ruptures, according to a study published in Circulation in November 2020.
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Heart Attacks Striking Younger Women
Younger women are having more heart attacks, says a recent study.Researchers were surprised to find that while the heart attack rate hasdecreased among older adults, it’s risen among those ages 35-54, especiallywomen. TheAtherosclerosis Risk in Communities studyreviewed more than 28,000 hospitalizations for heart attacks in fourcities.
“This observational study found a trend in young women,” saysVirginia Colliver, M.D., cardiologist withJohns Hopkins Community Physicians-Heart Carein Bethesda, Maryland. “But the research doesn’t provide insight into whythe uptick in heart attacks is happening to younger people. I suspect ithas to do with more people having risk factors for heart disease at anearlier age.”
Do Women Do Worse Than Men After A Heart Attack
Yes. In all age groups, women do worse than men after a heart attack. Researchers are not sure why this is, especially for younger women.
- Women between 45 and 65 who have a heart attack are more likely than men of the same age to die within a year of a heart attack.4 However, heart attack is less common in younger women than in younger men. This is partly because the hormone estrogen protects against heart disease in younger women.
- Women older than 65 are more likely than men of the same age to die within a few weeks of a heart attack.4 Women usually have heart attacks about 10 years later than men. The average age of a first heart attack for men is 64, but it is 72 for women.
Many women who have had a heart attack go on to lead full, active lives. Know the symptoms of a heart attack and what to do if you have any symptoms. Take steps to recover after a heart attack and prevent another heart attack.
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What Causes A Heart Attack
Coronary artery disease causes most heart attacks. In people with CAD, plaque builds up on the walls of the arteries that supply blood to the heart. This is called atherosclerosis .
Plaque can build up in fatty clumps or in a thin, smooth layer. Both types are dangerous. The plaque can break open or wear down, causing blood to clump together in that area. If a clot blocks blood flow to the heart, it can cause a heart attack.
This picture shows how CAD causes a heart attack. Plaque builds up in an artery of the heart, and a blood clot forms. The clot blocks blood flow to part of the heart, and the heart muscle begins to die.
A heart attack can also happen if the artery pinches itself closed. This is called a coronary spasm. Coronary spasms are rare. They happen more often in young women than in older women or men.
Learn more about CAD.
Surprising Risk Factors May Predict Heart Attacks In Young Women
A new Yale-led study has for the first time identified which risk factors are more likely to trigger a heart attack or acute myocardial infarction for men and women 55 years and younger.
Researchers discovered significant sex differences in risk factors associated with AMI and in the strength of associations among young adults, suggesting the need for a sex-specific preventive strategy. For example, hypertension, diabetes, depression, and poverty had stronger associations with AMI in women compared with men, they found.
The study was published May 3 in JAMA Network Open.
While heart attacks are often associated with older adults, this population-based case-control study examined the relationships among a wide range of AMI-related risk factors involving younger adults. The researchers used data from 2,264 AMI patients from the VIRGO study and 2,264 population-based controls matched for age, sex, and race from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey .
Rates of AMI in younger women have increased in recent years said Yuan Lu, ScD, an assistant professor at Yale School of Medicine and the studys lead author.
Young women with AMI are an unusual or extreme phenotype on account of their age, she said. In the past, we found that young women, but not older women, have a twice higher risk of dying after an AMI than similarly aged men. In this new study, we now identified significant differences in risk factor profiles and risk factor associations with AMI by sex.
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Why Heart Disease In Young Women Is On The Riseand Warning Signs You Need To Know
Three out of 10 heart attacks in women now occur in those younger than 55.
With heart disease in young women, such risks often go undetected and unmanaged until a serious problem occurs. Women tend to put their families firstand their own health last, Dr. Hawthorne says. Many put off seeing a doctor for too long.
What Are The Risk Factors For Heart Disease
High blood pressure, high LDL cholesterol, and smoking are key risk factors for heart disease. About half of all people in the United States have at least one of these three risk factors.6
Several other medical conditions and lifestyle choices can also put people at a higher risk for heart disease, including
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When To Contact A Doctor
Its never too early to contact a doctor to discuss your risk of heart disease. In fact, the new primary prevention guidelines say that the earlier the risk factors for heart disease are prevented or treated, the less likely you are to develop heart disease later in life.
So, if youre concerned about your risk of heart disease, make an appointment to discuss how you can prevent this highly preventable condition. You can connect with a cardiologist in your area using the Healthline FindCare tool.
If youre having any symptoms at all, its very important to discuss these with your doctor, as heart disease can masquerade in many different ways.
Its easy to dismiss many warning signs of heart disease like fatigue, indigestion, and shortness of breath as just an ordinary part of life or mild illness. But because a heart attack can happen suddenly, its important not to ignore any potential warning signs.
If you have any of the above symptoms of heart disease, especially if you also have risk factors, contact a doctor.
Medical emergency
- the presence of specific cholesterol markers
- other specialized lipid tests
Your doctor may order other tests, too. For example:
A doctor might also suggest a continuous EKG or ambulatory arrhythmia monitor, where you wear a device that constantly records your hearts electrical signals. Depending on your symptoms, you might wear this device for a few days or a few weeks.
Disturbing Heart Trends For Young Women
Scientists can’t say for sure what’s causing an increase in heart disease among young women, but they do have some ideas. Last month’s study found that not only had hospitalization rates for heart attacks increased among young people since 1995, but that hypertension and diabetes rates had increased as well. The young women in the study were also more likely to be black than the young men, suggesting that heart disease is hitting young black women especially hard.
The study didn’t look at patients’ body mass indexes, but co-author Melissa Caughey, PhD, a research instructor at UNC School of Medicine, notes that hypertension and diabetes tend to be associated with obesity.
“We know that there’s an obesity epidemic going on in the United States, and we know that womenespecially black womentend to have higher obesity rates than men,” Caughey tells Health. “It may be that these are actionable areas where physicians could do better to manage risk factors in these high-risk patients.”
“Notably, there was no indication that the sex-related treatment gap improved between 1995 and 2014 if anything, there was a tendency for the disparities to worsen over time,” wrote Dr. Vaccarino.
Another challenge is that women tend to experience heart attacks differently than menso they, and their doctors, may not even recognize it when it’s happening, and their treatment may suffer as a result.
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