How is cardiovascular disease different in men and women?

Cardiovascular disease is different in women and men in that women's arteries are smaller, the way plaque develops in the arteries is different, and symptoms are more subtle. Watch cardiologist Suzanne Steinbaum, DO, discuss these disparities.

Transcript

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Women tend to get atherosclerosis, or plaque in the arteries, throughout the vessel. And men tend to get it in one discrete area.

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Men and women have differences with their hearts. Women's arteries are smaller than men's.

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And the way that actually coronary artery disease forms in the arteries are different.

00:37

Women tend to get atherosclerosis, or plaque in the arteries, throughout the vessel. And men tend to get it in one discrete area.

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This makes it more difficult to diagnose in women. Symptoms are also more subtle.

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And instead of having that crushing chest pain that we always think of as being heart disease, women can have other symptoms-- shortness of breath, fatigue,

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flu-like symptoms, jaw pain, back pain, nausea, vomiting.

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So the symptoms aren't often as clear. It is very challenging for not only a patient

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to know if she's having symptoms of heart disease. Sometimes it's also difficult for the doctor to know as well.