Dr Nighat Arif, a TV doctor specialising in women's health, has warned that women's heart attack symptoms are "too often" dismissed as anxiety, potentially leading to serious consequences. In a TikTok video, she said these symptoms are often "dangerously overlooked."
Women's heart attacks 'quieter' and easier to miss
Speaking in a video on TikTok, Dr Arif said: "You're too anxious - that's what too many women hear while their heart is literally struggling for oxygen. And I see it in my clinics as well, because we were taught heart attacks look like a man clutching his chest. It's sharp, it's dramatic, it's obvious. But over the years, as somebody who does women's health and I've realised in women it's not the case at all. It's quieter, it's easy to dismiss, it's easier to miss."
She outlined the "red flags" women should be aware of, including unexplained breathlessness, nausea that won't settle, a dull pain spreading to the back, between the shoulder blades, around the shoulders, and even the jaw. She also mentioned a sense that something is deeply wrong, and flu-like symptoms, which can lead to the symptoms being labelled as anxiety or stress.
Higher death risk for young women
Dr Arif highlighted that "young women are twice as likely as men their age to die in the year after a heart attack." She attributed this not to weaker hearts, but to symptoms being "overlooked, dismissed, delayed," adding that "this is happening every day."
She urged women: "If something feels off, even if it doesn't look like a heart attack, trust your body. Think about it as being a heart attack in women, because women have cardiovascular disease risks and they're often told it's probably just anxiety."
British Heart Foundation addresses myths
The British Heart Foundation has stated that the belief that women experience heart attacks less severely than men is a myth. The charity said: "Symptoms can vary from person to person, but there are no symptoms that are more common in women than in men. Misconceptions around symptoms may make women less likely to seek and receive treatment. These misconceptions may also delay diagnosis, making poor outcomes more likely. Coronary heart disease kills more than twice as many women than breast cancer in the UK every year. But despite this, it's often considered a man's disease."
The charity listed the most typical indicators of a heart attack as sudden and persisting chest pain or discomfort that feels like pressure, tightness, or squeezing; pain that may spread to either arm, the neck, jaw, back, or stomach; and feeling sick, sweaty, light-headed, or short of breath.
