--- title: Women Experience Lesser-Known Symptoms for Heart Attacks description: Women are more likely to report a wider variety of signs of a heart attack than men, which may cause it to be missed by doctors. canonical: https://time.com/5168411/women-heart-attack-symptoms/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-02-21T17:26:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T19:22:42.216Z article:section: Health og:title: Here's Why Doctors Often Miss Heart Attack Symptoms in Women og:description: These are the symptoms to look for og:url: https://time.com/5168411/women-heart-attack-symptoms/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc2c0925b8b4dd0e5/69887a870a4a22d5239c80d6/time-health-heart-attacks-gender-fb.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2334 og:image:height: 1313 og:image:alt: Heart Attacks Men and Women og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's Why Doctors Often Miss Heart Attack Symptoms in Women twitter:description: These are the symptoms to look for twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc2c0925b8b4dd0e5/69887a870a4a22d5239c80d6/time-health-heart-attacks-gender-fb.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's Why Doctors Often Miss Heart Attack Symptoms in Women > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=dd387a66-c129-4ebf-b6c5-836deb4430de&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1)  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Feb 21, 2018 5:26 PM UTC  1930s 1940s SMILING BLONDE... 1930s 1940s SMILING BLONDE... H. Armstrong Roberts—ClassicStock/Getty Images; Photo Illustration by Lauren Margit Jones for TIME  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Feb 21, 2018 5:26 PM UTC Almost 30% of women who had a heart attack [in a new study](http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/137/8/781#abstract-1) sought medical care for related symptoms before they ever went to the hospital — but more than half of their doctors didn’t think their ailments were heart-related. The reason why so many women are falling through the cracks may have to do with the variety of heart-attack symptoms that women experience, according to the paper published in the journal _Circulation._ Researchers from the Yale School of Public Health interviewed almost 3,000 heart attack patients younger than 55 — two-thirds of them female — about their symptoms, when they sought medical care and hospitalization, if they immediately suspected a heart attack and more. The results highlight a few key differences in symptoms between the sexes. While the vast majority of people (almost 90%) experienced chest pain, tightness or pressure, women were more likely than men to have [seemingly unrelated symptoms](http://time.com/4337864/silent-heart-attack-study/) such as indigestion, nausea, stomach pain, palpitations, shortness of breath and jaw, neck or shoulder pain. Nearly 62% of women had three or more symptoms, compared to almost 55% of men, the researchers write. That collection of symptoms may distract doctors from what’s really going on, which may be why so many female patients’ symptoms were misinterpreted before the women were admitted to the hospital. Women also tended to wait longer than men to go to the hospital, the study says. From the time serious symptoms began, it took women a median of 3.2 hours to go to the hospital, versus 2.4 hours for men. Misinterpreting symptoms affects both sexes, though the problem is more widespread among women — both when it comes to heart attacks [and other conditions](https://www.glamour.com/story/why-are-so-many-women-being-misdiagnosed). Only 22% of men in the study sought medical care for similar symptoms before hospitalization, but 36% of those men were originally misdiagnosed, the paper says. Plus, more than half of people, regardless of their sex, initially thought their problem were something other than a heart attack. Women were more likely to chalk symptoms up to stress or anxiety, whereas men more often suspected muscle pain. The findings underscore how important it is for people and their doctors to recognize [heart attack symptoms other than chest pain](http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20772927,00.html?xid=time-newsletter-12262016), especially among seemingly low-risk groups such as young adults. Knowing these warning signs could get them into treatment sooner — and when it comes to heart problems, time can make all the difference in the world. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5168411/women-heart-attack-symptoms/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5168411/women-heart-attack-symptoms/"},"headline":"Here's Why Doctors Often Miss Heart Attack Symptoms in Women","datePublished":"2018-02-21T17:26:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T19:22:42.216Z","description":"Plus, the warning signs to look for","url":"https://time.com/5168411/women-heart-attack-symptoms/","keywords":["Research","medicine","Heart Disease","heart attacks","onetime","healthytime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc2c0925b8b4dd0e5/69887a870a4a22d5239c80d6/time-health-heart-attacks-gender-fb.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jamie Ducharme","jobTitle":"Ducharme is a contributor to TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc2c0925b8b4dd0e5/69887a870a4a22d5239c80d6/time-health-heart-attacks-gender-fb.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Heart Attacks Men and Women","caption":"Heart Attacks Men and Women","creditText":"H. 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