Women tough out heart disease.

In a clinical research study entitled Gender and Perceived Severity of Cardiac Disease: Evidence that Women are "Tougher," researchers at the College of Pharmacy and Cardiovascular Health Center, University of Michigan, found that women rated their heart disease no more severely than men, even though women had more symptoms, were taking more medications and had worse health status. The 490 respondents - 348 men and 142 women--were matched for race, age and similar type of acute coronary syndrome, including heart attack and angina. The researchers believe that this "tough" attitude may help explain why women delay seeking medical care when they experience symptoms of acute coronary syndrome, such as angioplasty or coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Women also tend not to go to post-heart attack rehab programs involving exercise and education to improve their health. Says Eva M. Kline-Rogers, nurse practitioner and one of the study's researchers: "Because women are the primary caregivers, they may ignore their symptoms when they feel there is no one to tend to their elderly mothers or critically ill husbands. But they need to realize that heart disease is the number one killer for women just as it is for men. They also should not ignore heart-attack symptoms that are more typical to women such as sudden and unusual fatigue, shortness of breath that comes on suddenly and is persistent, unexplained back pain and nausea." (The American Journal of Medicine, vol. 118, Issue 11, pp. 1256-1261, November 2005).