Beyond Chest Pain: Why Women’s Heart Attack Symptoms Are Often Overlooked
Table of Contents
Beyond the “Classic” Heart Attack
A clump of red blood cells almost the size of a grain of rice is the most common cause of the heart attack that causes 9 million deaths per year globally. A heart attack is when one of the blood vessels that supplies blood to the heart muscle is cut off from a spasm, or more commonly a blood clot usually due to build up of fat and cholesterol. When we watch movies or tv shows heart attacks are often depicted as someone clutching their chest and falling to the ground and we imagine a sharp chest pain. Now this isn’t necessarily wrong but symptoms are actually much more complicated especially depending on various different factors and the one which we will examine today is the difference between Women and Men.
What Heart Attacks Look Like in Women vs Men
As written before chest pain is a very common symptom especially with men, however women are more likely to experience other symptoms alongside or instead of the symptoms we typically associate with a heart attack.
Women may experience:
shortness of breath
dizziness
lightheadedness
fainting
cold sweat
extreme fatigue
These symptoms can be easy to overlook because they may not match the image many people have of someone suddenly clutching their chest. Doctors may also mistake these for everyday conditions such as stress, anxiety, flu, etc. A heart attack especially with women may not always look and feel like one so it's important to stay alert.
When Heart Attack Symptoms Are Overlooked
Since it may be harder for women to identify these atypical symptoms as a medical emergency, help could potentially be delayed. Research even found women tend to arrive at the hospital later than men after their symptoms begin.
Because of the lack of recognition from patients and doctors, women are less likely to receive timely, effective evidence based interventions after symptoms begin. Recognizing atypical symptoms is not only the patient’s responsibility, as heart attacks can also be overlooked in the healthcare system. Women are often offered fewer diagnostic tests and referred less often for hospitalization or specialist care. A study also found that women with symptoms of acute coronary syndrome (an umbrella term which includes heart attacks) were more likely than men to be discharged from the emergency department without hospitalization. The review also found that young women were frequently given a diagnosis other than acute coronary syndrome when admitted.
Delayed recognition means delayed treatment, and the delays may contribute to poorer health conditions which may even become fatal.
The Patient Experience
A powerful real life example of a woman with atypical symptoms comes from Rachelle Denis-Morisseau, who publicly shared her experience in a YouTube video with Doctor Mike.
Rachelle woke up in the middle of the night with chest tightness, difficulty breathing, nausea, and pain down her left arm. She was unsure of what was happening and said at the time she was thinking of going to work and taking care of everyone else except herself. She wondered if she slept on her arm strangely or just had some anxiety. A week later the symptoms disappeared and she briefly mentioned her episode to her family physician during a visit about back pain. Her physician of 8 years noticed a difference in emotion and tone as she described the symptoms and decided something was wrong. He quickly sent an urgent referral toa cardiologist which then found a shocking 90% blockage in an artery supplying blood to her heart muscle. She ultimately received a stent, medication and rehabilitation and is now doing fine.
What makes this story especially relevant to this cause is when she said going through this experience she was focusing on work and taking care of everybody else rather than herself. Her experience is a reminder to stay alert of concerning symptoms and to listen to your body.
Varshavski, M. [Doctor Mike]. (2026, February 8). Arguing with my patient saved her life [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QGjadg5xa8
Why Awareness Is Important
Awareness is important as symptoms of not only heart attacks often differ between race sexes, environments and in general have too many variables. It is important to raise awareness and have more research on symptoms experienced on all groups of people instead of just the majority. Atypical heart attack symptoms can go undetected because of a lack of awareness of patients and healthcare workers. More awareness of variability of symptoms would help patients be more vigilant of their own symptoms and reduce biases associated with diagnostic tests and medicines in women compared to men.
Takeaway
Heart attacks don’t always look the way we see on movies or TV shows. Although chest pain remains a very common symptom in men and women, women may experience various different or additional symptoms, such as nausea, shortness of breath, or unusual fatigue, which may not lead the individual or their family and friends to think of a heart attack.
This is why it is crucial to be educated on health matters. When symptoms are misunderstood or dismissed, seeking care and receiving a diagnosis and treatment are delayed. Rachelle’s experience teaches us to listen to our own bodies and reminds doctors to remain attentive to all patients, as it may end up being life and death.
Greater awareness will help break the notion that everyone will experience the same symptoms in heart attacks, in turn helping more people to seek and receive medical attention in time.
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