Most women in US are killed by heart disease yet neither do most women and doctors realize this danger. Is there something that is gender specific that causes heart disease? Is there something that the medical world has been missing?

Almost half of women do not know dangers of heart disease

A survey of more than one thousand women aging between 25 and 60 years discovered that almost half did not know the danger of heart disease.

British Robinson, Women’s Heart Alliance, laments about how preventable heart disease is women’s heart disease is not diagnosed, researched and funded adequately.

She advises women to often ask their doctors to do a check on their hearts. The doctors should also understand that heart disease is men in different as that in women since the symptoms may be different and because their risk factors are slightly different. Women’s hearts are also said to be smaller than men’s hearts and therefore, their ability to handle duress is also smaller.

The study discovered that out of the 74 percent of women who had any risk factor for heart disease, only 16 percent knew about their risk factors. It was also reported that 26 percent of the women felt that it was embarrassing to have a heart disease because it looks like you eat unhealthily or you do not exercise.

Women fail to go see a doctor on time many times

It was also found that women delay to visit their doctor and sometimes fail to go for appointments that were planned just because of their weight.

An almost similar survey was done on health care providers who were about two hundred and it was found that only 39 percent of doctors knew that heart disease is the top killer for women. It was also found that only 35 percent actually bother to inform patients about this issue.

Shocking that health providers with BLS certification and PhDs are so oblivious about the whole situation; only about 20 percent of primary doctors and about 40 percent of cardiologists are sure that they are ready to analyze heart disease in women.

Study leader Dr. Noel Bairey Merz emphasizes that there is a lot to be done in order to make women aware of the threat they face because of heart disease so that they may start to take care more using their risk factors and get more frequent check-ups for heart disease.

She goes on to emphasize about the awareness to the health care provider about the danger of heart disease so that they may continue to preach the message, be more interested in submitting patients to check-ups and learning more about heart diseases, especially in women.

Conclusively, women are at a higher risk of getting heart disease and unless something is done to arrest the situation early enough, many women will continue to die before their time. Even doctors seem not to know the difference between risk rates for women and for men. Hopefully, this will be rectified soon enough.