It has generally been assumed that heart attack symptoms are the same for both men and women, but a study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association seems to indicate that women experience heart attacks, specifically chest pain, differently than men.

The study revealed that fewer than 30% of the 515 women in the study had chest pain or discomfort prior to their heart attack and 43% said they had no chest pain during the attack. When women did report chest pain words such as aching, tightness or pressure were more commonly used than pain. The most common symptoms reported were unusual fatigue (70.6%), sleep disturbance (47.8%) and shortness of breath (42.1%) as much as a month before the attack.

For more information see:

“Women’s Early Warning Symptoms of Acute Myocardial Infarction” Jean C. McSweeney, Marisue Cody, Patricia OSullivan, Karen Elberson, Debra K. Moser and Bonnie J. Garvin. Circulation published online Nov 3, 2003. Can be viewed online at http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/reprint/01.CIR.0000097116.29625.7Cv1