Women more likely to ignore heart attack symptoms, study says

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- When busy mom and grandmother Barbara Lewis gets off work, she's always rushing to do something for the kids.

"And then we forget about ourselves, like OK we are not Wonder Woman, we have to really work it out," she says.

So it's not surprising to hear the last time Lewis felt chest pain, she ignored it.

"Well I just thought maybe it was heartburn," she said. "We think it's heartburn because we ate fried food and all of that."

Fortunately for her, it wasn't a heart attack. But a new Harvard School of Public Health study shows this internal battle happens in most women suffering cardiac events. Many ignore the signs until it's too late.

"More women than men die of cardiovascular disease in the U.S. and worldwide per year," said Dr. Christina Economides of the Good Samaritan Hospital.

In the study, researchers found women were 1.5 times more likely than men to wait for their symptoms to become more severe or frequent before seeking medical attention.

Economides says women have heart attacks about 10 years later in life than men which lessens their chances of surviving.

"They've acquired more high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and they're older so they have more medical problems," Economides said.

Some healthcare providers may be more likely to dismiss symptoms so women need to feel empowered to advocate for themselves, she says. But the first step for women is understanding their health has to come first.

"She needs to remember that if she is not healthy, all these things that she has to do on a daily basis are gonna go by the wayside," Economides said.

For Lewis, that means making time to eat right and exercise so she can get her high blood pressure under control.

In the study, Harvard researchers also found women waited for others to tell them how sick they appeared before they were convinced to seek medical attention.