Coronation Street shock Gail Platt storyline: 5 things women need to know about heart attacks
Lisa Salmon asks a cardiac nurse what the signs are in women and who’s at risk.
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In distressing scenes on ITV’s Coronation Street, long-runner character Gail Platt had a heart attack and was rushed to hospital – with viewers not knowing if she will survive.
The storyline, in which Platt, played by Helen Worth, is seen breathless and clutching her left arm before her partner Jesse Chadwick calls an ambulance. Worth is due to leave the popular soap this week after 50 years.
The scene has been welcomed by the British Heart Foundation (BHF), as ‘a fantastic moment to shout about heart health’.
June Davison, a BHF senior cardiac nurse, stresses that contrary to popular belief, women who have heart attacks experience the same key symptoms as men. “It’s still a misconception that there are differences between female symptoms and male symptoms of a heart attack, but we know now that isn’t the case,” she says.
Here’s what women need to know…
1. Symptoms are the same in women and men
The most common heart attack symptoms, which vary from person to person and may be experienced singly or in combination, are sudden chest pain or discomfort that may feel like pressure, tightness or squeezing, doesn’t go away, and may spread to one or both arms, the neck, jaw, back or stomach.
There may also be shortness of breath or difficulty breathing with or without chest discomfort; feeling dizzy, light-headed or faint; feeling or being sick or having indigestion; sweating or experiencing a cold sweat; suddenly feeling anxiety similar to a panic attack; coughing or wheezing.
Davison explains: “There’s a group of symptoms, and women and men can experience them equally.”
Indeed, 2019 Edinburgh University research, funded by the BHF, dispelled the long-held myth that women tend to suffer unusual or ‘atypical’ heart attack symptoms, emphasising the need for both sexes to recognise and act on the warning signs.
2. Women often don’t think they’re at risk
Heart attacks are still seen by many as a male problem, and consequently, says Davison, something that some women think they don’t really need to worry about. Yet the BHF says around 33,000 women in the UK are admitted to hospital due to a heart attack each year, and research suggests survival rates are lower for women than for men.
“The issue is that women don’t necessarily see themselves as being at risk of a heart attack, so they’re more likely to delay asking for help or seeking treatment,” Davison explains.
But she warns that, just like men, if women have risk factors like diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and/or an unhealthy lifestyle, such as a poor diet or if they smoke, they’re at higher risk of a heart attack.
“For women, the most important thing is to think about the fact that you are not immune to heart disease,” she stresses. “So if the risk factors apply to you, then you’re more likely to experience a heart problem.”
3. Women are more at risk of heart attacks after menopause
During and after menopause, women are at higher risk of having a heart problem, says Davison, who explains that this is thought to be because oestrogen has a protective effect on the heart.
“But during and after the menopause, you lose that oestrogen protectiveness, and then your risk of having a heart problem does dramatically increase,” she says. “And coupled with that, around that age, blood pressure is more likely to rise. So that’s a time to be bit more aware, and keep a closer eye on your health – check your blood pressure and cholesterol levels.”
4. Diagnosis may take longer for women
Because women sometimes delay seeking help with heart attack symptoms, their diagnosis may take longer, and further Edinburgh University research suggests women receive poorer heart attack treatment than men.
The BHF says women are 50% more likely than a man to receive the wrong initial diagnosis for a heart attack, and Davison explains that because women may delay seeking help “they’re going to be slower to get diagnosed”.
And when they do seek help, “They’re more likely to be misdiagnosed, or there’s a delay in sending them for tests, and they’re less likely to receive optimal treatment.
“So we know that women tend to sometimes have worse outcomes than men.”
5. A heart attack might not be as dramatic as those shown on TV
Platt’s heart attack on Coronation Street doesn’t appear to be as dramatic as others you might have seen on screen.
Davison stresses: “One thing’s for sure, heart attacks don’t always happen like they do on TV, with somebody dramatically clutching their chest in agony and collapsing onto the floor.
“One of the most common symptoms is chest pain, but it might just be a pressure or a tightness, aching, or heaviness, it’s not necessarily a real agony collapse on the floor. “
She says sometimes people have fairly subtle symptoms, perhaps thinking they’re having a bad episode of indigestion, feeling sick, having a panic attack, or generally feeling very unwell.
“There are a variety of symptoms, and that’s why we say if in doubt, please call 999,” she advises. “It’s much better to be to be reassured and for it to be a false alarm than to delay getting treatment for what sometimes is potentially a life-threatening condition.”