Healthy women in their 40s are entering hospitals these days and being diagnosed with a type of heart attack that’s completely different from what doctors normally see.
Heart attacks: scary things. Who has them? We tend to think of people in poor health who live with unhealthy lifestyle habits, as getting them. Things like smoking, drinking and being overweight are sure to get the best of us.
But that’s not always the case.
While some of these stereotypes may be true, they certainly don’t fit across the board.
Healthy women in their 40s are entering hospitals these days and being diagnosed with a type of heart attack that’s completely different from what doctors normally see.
It’s called SCAD. It’s a spontaneous coronary artery dissection, and it happens when a tear or split occurs in an otherwise healthy artery. Scarily, this causes a drop in blood flow to the heart, resulting in a heart attack.
For women under the age of 50, SCAD causes almost half of heart attacks.
According to a report on NBCnews.com, the average age of women affected is 42, and of these women, 10-20% are new moms or pregnant.
The condition can also affect men, however, more often it targets healthy women. With men, SCAD usually strikes after doing heavy exercises, like isometrics: planks, or bench pressing weights and holding them in place part way without pushing them all the way up.
Unfortunately, SCAD patients are known to have a high level of re-occurrence, but the condition is treatable. Many patients choose to eliminate heavy exercise from their daily regime and cut out habits that can raise the chances of developing heart disease.
For more information and a list of symptoms, click here.
Photo credit: Emily frost/Shutterstock
