The fact that heart disease is less common in women, as compared to men is often misinterpreted as women being free of heart disease. A published 2020 report analysing the National Family Health Survey shows overall prevalence of undiagnosed hypertension in 18.69% women aged 15–49 years in India. In rural areas, it was 17.09% compared to 21.73% in urban areas.
Dr. P. Vinodh Kumar MD, DM, Senior Consultant Cardiologist and Clinical Lead, Department of Cardiology, Prashanth Superspeciality Hospital, Kolathur feels that the fault for this misconception lies mostly with women themselves. “As seen among many of my patients and their attendants, women even with multiple heart risk factors tend to downplay their symptoms that are obviously related to heart disease. In my practice, the incidence of women presenting with heart attacks is 10% of total cases and they usually present much later and also tend to self-medicate under assumption that it is probably a gastric symptom. This situation can only be changed by inculcating awareness of early identification of symptoms related to heart disease and it needs to be periodically checked for treating risk factors which majorly need self-care and self-nurturing.”
