Abu Dhabi: Women have been urged to report any unusual pains and excessive fatigue symptoms to their doctors, as these may be signs of silent heart attacks, a leading heart specialist said yesterday.
This is especially important because the risk of another cardiac episode may be increased without adequate treatment, said Dr Zareen Farukhi, head of cardiology at the Al Rahba Hospital in Abu Dhabi.
"In men, heart attacks are more easily detected as they usually tend to feel the heavy, crushing sensation in the chest that most people easily associate with cardiac episodes. In most women, however, the pains are simply sharp with a burning sensation, so people may fail to recognise the cardiac signs and simply wait for the pains to subside," Dr Farukhi said.
She was speaking on the sidelines of the 2nd National Women's Health Conference, which concluded here yesterday. The two-day event, which was organised by Al Rahba Hospital, saw 21 leading medical professionals and officials discuss pressing women's health issues and ways to effectively treat them.
Cardiovascular diseases are known to be the leading cause of death for both men and women worldwide.
In Abu Dhabi, these illnesses resulted in 25 per cent of deaths last year.
Risk factors
Primary healthcare physicians should therefore regularly screen patients and warn them against risk factors like smoking, obesity, hypertension and diabetes, Dr Farukhi said.
"In addition, people should be aware that a lot of women have symptoms that are usually linked with other conditions. For example, 71 per cent feel unusually fatigued, and 48 per cent face sleep disturbances. Because these can indicate a cardiac episode, further investigation should be conducted," she said.
She said women should aim at maintaining a waist circumference less than 78 centimetres.
Health professionals at the conference also stressed the need to maintain healthy diets and pursuing regular physical activity.
Laila Al Jasmi, chief executive officer of health policy and strategy at the Dubai Health Authority (DHA), said a recent study conducted in Dubai had shown that women were likely to be more physically active if they were educated about the risks of living sedentary lifestyles.
