Female Heart Damage

November 29, 2006

Women with chest pain sometimes ignore the symptom. Now, a study shows those women have a much greater risk for a heart attack than women with no pain. University of Florida researchers studied women who’ve had chest pain but whose heart exam revealed no blocked arteries or other problems. UF expert Rhonda Cooper-DeHoff says women shouldn’t ignore the pain.

Cooper-DeHoff: “Our findings suggest that women who present with chest pain, even though they do not have obstruction in a major cardiac vessel, have a higher occurrence of major adverse outcomes within five years than women who are followed and have no heart disease.”

In fact, results show those with chest discomfort had four times the risk of a future cardiovascular event in the next five years compared to women with no pain.

Cooper-Dehoff: “Cardiologists and physicians should be aware that women who routinely present with chest pain but do not show obstruction in their major vessels, there is still some disease process going on and they are still at increased risk.”

Researchers say tiny clogs in small blood vessels might be to blame; they’re hard to spot on an exam.