american heart month

February marks a month of heart health awareness campaigns, and there's good reason for it. Read on for five important reasons that women, old and young alike, should pay attention to heart disease.

1. It's the No. 1 killer of women: Breast cancer may get the attention (and is also a serious and potentially deadly disease), but far more women die each year of heart disease than breast cancer: while one in 31 women will die of breast cancer, the American Heart Association reports that one in three women will die of heart disease.
2. Young women are having more and more heart attacks: A recent study that tracked over a million women for 12 years found that women were having more heart attacks at a younger age. The study also found that the women experienced atypical heart attacks with symptoms that were different than what we think of as normal heart attack symptoms (see below).
3. 90 percent of women have at least one risk factor for heart disease: Even if you are seemingly young and healthy, factors like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and genetics can contribute to your risk of developing heart disease.
4. You may not have symptoms: Heart attack symptoms in younger women include shortness of breath, fatigue, nausea, and back or jaw pain — not the normal striking chest pain that we think heart attacks should be like. But it's not just subtle symptoms; most women who die of coronary heart disease don't experience any symptoms at all.
5. More women than men die of heart disease: It's a trend that's been continuing since 1984.

For more on heart health, check out the American Heart Association's Go Red For Women campaign, and read our tips for avoiding daily habits that are bad for your heart here.

You may think that heart attacks happen when you're older, and when they do, the sudden, gripping pain in your chest will be all you need to know that you're having one. But a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association has found that in reality, women are getting heart attacks younger and without the normal symptoms we think are the signs of a heart attack.

The study, which followed 1.4 million heart attack patients for 12 years, found that 42 percent of the women experienced a heart attack without any chest pain, compared to 30 percent of the men in the study. Heart attacks also led to death in more of these women — possibly because they didn't think they were having a heart attack in the first place, and therefore put off going to the hospital. Also worrisome was the fact that most of the women with these atypical symptoms were younger (less than 55 years old).

Knowing what symptoms other than chest pain you should look out for may help you get the timely care you need. Read on to find out the common heart attack symptoms in younger women.

I was shocked when I first heard that heart disease is the leading cause of death amongst women. It's not something many people talk about, at least not in the same way as breast cancer or obesity. Since I associate heart attacks more with men, I wasn't too surprised to hear that a lot of other women are misinformed too.

A study found that almost half of 2,300 women surveyed wouldn't call 911 if they were having a heart attack, primarily because they couldn't identify the symptoms. Most women didn't know that heart disease is also the leading cause of death amongst their gender.

The American Heart Association (AHA) conducted the study as a way to determine how to educate the public about heart disease. Researchers say that the messages provided by the media about heart disease are often confusing — the AHA's goal is to raise awareness by delivering the facts in a straightforward and simple way.

Ladies, it's American Heart Month, meaning there's no better time to learn the warning signs that you may be experiencing a heart attack. Here are the symptoms WebMD advises we look for. Please call 911 if you think you or someone you know is experiencing an attack.

• Discomfort, pressure, heaviness, or pain in the chest, arm, or below the breastbone
• Discomfort radiating to the back, jaw, throat, or arm
• Fullness, indigestion, or choking feeling (may feel like heartburn)
• Sweating, nausea, vomiting, or dizziness
• Extreme fatigue, weakness, anxiety, or shortness of breath
• Rapid or irregular heartbeats