One of the major causes of death in the United States is cardiovascular disease. Every year, an estimated 610,000 people die due to heart related ailments in the United States. Women suffering from heart disease do not showcase symptoms easily, unlike men, who have easy to detect symptoms related to heart ailment. There is a difference about how male and female heart functions and perceives the illness.

American Heart Month teaches women how they should care for their heart. They are at more risk of dying with heart failure as their illness remains unrecognized. Around a two-third of the women die suddenly without advance sign of coronary heart disease. They don’t feel like men when they are sick, so they don’t behave like a male, grabbing chest, crushing and falling over.

“Women will describe a discomfort, or they will have pain in their jaws or necks, they’ll have nausea or just not feel well. They have more vague symptoms than men, as a result, doctors often misdiagnose women”, said Annabelle Santos Volgman, a professor of medicine at Chicago’s Rush College of Medicine and medical director of the Rush Heart Center for Women.

A major difference between male and female reaction is brought to the focus by physiological differences not anatomical. Their hearts are similar in composition, but they have different hormones and blood vessel response. Women have cyclical hormones because of menstruation, pregnancy and menopause.

Men feel heavy weight and pressure on their chest while suffering from heart attacks, while women feel some sensation in their chest and call it heaviness. They don’t call it a pain as they have different perception regarding pain and refuse to receive treatment.

They should be told that they have to take such pains seriously. If they ignore, this could lead to death. When women get older, they get high blood pressure. But, they often refuse to get treated and rather choose to make lifestyle changes.