Heart attack also known medically as myocardial infarction or MI is the damage and death of heart muscle from the sudden blockage of a coronary artery by a blood clot. Coronary arteries are blood vessels along the thoracic region that supply the heart muscle with oxygen-rich blood. Blockage of this blood vessel, surely deprives the heart's muscle of blood as well as oxygen, leading to a fatal condition known as Ischaemia. Ischaemia is the shortage of blood supply to the organs, this can cause an injury to the muscles of the heart. When blood flow is not restored to the heart muscle within 20 to 40 minutes, irreversible cell death of the heart muscle begins to take effect in the individual. Cells continues to die rapidly for about six to eight hours at which time the heart attack usually is complete.
SYMPTOMS
Some of the common Symptoms of heart attack includes tightness or pain in the chest, neck, back or arms, as well as fatigue, lightheadedness, abnormal heartbeat and anxiety. Women are more likely to go down with unusual symptoms than men.
Why rare in women?
Women are protected from having heart problems early in life than in men, this is as a result of the natural reproductive hormones like Estrogen and Progesterone found in women.
These hormones tends to protect them from heart related diseases.
On the other hand, men are most likely to have heart attack. For example, In the UK, 1 in 7 men and 1 in 11 women die from heart related diseases.
Various reasons are thought to be the cause of increased Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) numbers in men.
Men have more challenging jobs and cope with stress differently, compared to women. They also tend to smoke more, take more alcohol, pay less attention to healthy diet, and be more overweight than women. In addition, they are also less aware of their own symptoms and wellbeing.
They also have larger hearts and do not easily get tired as females. Serena williams arguably the best female tennis player in the world will only be ranked around 200 if she was playing against men, this is due to the fact that men perform more strenuous work than females.
Other common causes of heart attack includes
•Atherosclerosis, I.e build up of plagues (fats, cholesterol and other substances in the walls of the artery)
•High blood pressure
•High cholesterol level
•Diabetes
•Smoking
Conclusion
CVD (cardiovascular diseases) may not manifest until very late in its course. It is therefore pertinent to be conscious of symptoms of chest pain and worsening breathlessness (especially on effort). Ultimately, the focus should be on preventing problems and addressing the different risk factors.