Health

Women Keep Missing these Heart Attack Signs and Doctors Often Do Too

Published on May 26, 2025

When most people picture a heart attack, they imagine a man clutching his chest in sudden, crushing pain. But the truth, especially for women, can look a lot different—and that’s a big problem. According to cardiologist Dr. Simin Lee, many women don’t get the textbook symptoms we’ve all been taught to watch out for, and it’s costing lives.

Dr. Lee, who specializes in women’s heart health, took to TikTok to break down what she says are the most overlooked heart attack warning signs in women. And honestly, what she shares might just save a life.

“Heart attack symptoms aren’t always what you’d expect, especially for women,” she explained. “Subtle signs often get missed, leading to dangerous delays in care.”

Backing up her concerns is the VIRGO study, a major research effort that looked at heart attack symptoms and outcomes in younger patients. What stood out? Women often experience very different, less obvious symptoms than men—so different that they’re often misdiagnosed, even when they go to the doctor.

Dr. Lee spelled out three key takeaways from the study. First, women were more likely to have symptoms outside of the chest. “Women are more likely than men to feel symptoms outside of the chest,” she said. “Things like stomach pain, indigestion, heart palpitations, and discomfort in the jaw, neck, or back.” These types of symptoms were reported by 62% of the women studied.

The NHS backs this up, noting that while chest pain is the most common symptom, others include pain radiating from the chest to the arms, dizziness, sweating, and shortness of breath.

Next, Dr. Lee discussed how often these symptoms are misread—even by the people having them. “Women were more likely to think of their symptoms as stress or anxiety,” she said. “Nearly 21% of women with heart attacks thought it was just stress, while only 12% of men felt that way in the study.”

The NHS warns that what feels like a sudden wave of anxiety or a panic attack could actually be a heart attack. Their advice? Call 999 immediately if you’re unsure. Better safe than sorry.

But here’s the most frustrating part. Even when women do seek medical help, they’re often dismissed. “Over half of women who went to their doctors with these symptoms before a heart attack were told that it wasn’t heart related, compared to only 37% of men,” Dr. Lee said. “That’s a huge gap and a missed opportunity to prevent a life-threatening event.”

“These findings underscore a really important truth,” she added. “Women’s heart attacks can look very different from men’s, and without more awareness these signs often get missed.”

According to the British Heart Foundation, around 100,000 people in the UK are hospitalized for heart attacks every year—that’s one every five minutes. And more than 30,000 of them are women. Heart and circulatory diseases cause over 170,000 deaths each year in the UK, or about one every three minutes.

The takeaway? Don’t wait around for chest pain. If something feels off—whether it’s dizziness, indigestion, or even anxiety—trust your gut and get help. And if someone around you shows those symptoms, don’t second-guess. Call 999 and get to the hospital fast. It could make all the difference.

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