Heart disease is the leading cause of death among women 1in the United States, yet it remains significantly underrepresented in both attention and advocacy.
To come, what award-winning physician and oncologist Elizabeth Comen, M.D., shared on this crucial topic during a recent episode of the mindbodygreen podcast. Plus, the symptoms every woman should know.
“We are still playing catch-up in terms of understanding how women present with heart disease,” Comen says.
“When I was in medical school, we were taught that women’s symptoms of heart attack were atypical. That’s absolutely ridiculous—to teach students and future doctors that the way women present is the atypical version of how men present, when it is the number one killer of women,” she says.
Comen explains that women have distinct biology when it comes to heart disease. “A lot of what we present with is more small vessel disease, which is different to visualize than what you might see in a …