Did you know that women experience different heart attack symptoms to men? Check out our list of 10 heart facts that every woman should know:

1. Different symptoms - Women experience different heart attack symptoms than men. The subtle symptoms in women are: discomfort in the chest; pressure or pain in the upper back, shoulders and neck; abdominal pain; dizziness and fainting; nausea; clammy sweats and heart flutters; an unexplained feeling of anxiety and weakness; fatigue and shortness of breath and difficulty breathing.
2. Heart disease begins later - Heart disease in women progresses over a much longer period than men. A woman’s risk triples after menopause.
3. Lower survival rate - Women are 50% more likely to die in the first year of a heart attack than men because as research confirms, women wait an average 46% longer to seek emergency treatment for heart attack symptoms.
4. The Pill increases risk - Oral contraceptive pills increase the risk of blood clots and heart attacks especially in smokers. Other pill complications include: high blood pressure; elevated blood fats; diabetes and damage to the artery walls.
5. Hysterectomy effects - After a hysterectomy, a woman’s risk increases by 17%.
6. Moderate drinking only - Heavy drinking increases a woman’s risk by 30% - 3 alcoholic beverages a week (or none) can reduce a woman’s risk of developing high blood pressure.
7. Marital discord - Conflict between spouses has been linked to a higher risk of heart attack in women aged between 30 and 65.
8. Higher blood cholesterol – Studies show that women’s cholesterol is higher than men’s from age 55 onwards. High cholesterol raises the risk of heart disease and heart attack!
9. Hidden disease – Women are more likely than men to have a hidden type of coronary disease in which their heart muscle is starved of oxygen.
10. Lack of zzzz – Poor sleep quality, difficulty falling asleep more than two nights a week or taking longer than 30 minutes to fall asleep are linked to higher levels of fibrinogen, a clotting factor linked to stroke which increases the risk of heart disease.

- (SA Heart and Stroke Foundation, Health24, June 2010)