Sep 15, 2026 · 48 min
Why women’s heart symptoms still get dismissed
Heart Disease Kills More Women than All the Forms of Cancer Combined
Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death among women, while symptoms and risk factors can be overlooked across the lifespan.
- 1Women’s heart attacks may present as fatigue, nausea, jaw pain, shortness of breath, or anxiety-like symptoms.
- 2Pregnancy complications, menopause, hypertension, chronic stress, and social conditions can shape cardiovascular risk over decades.
- 3The American Heart Association’s Life’s Essential Eight offers a prevention framework, with stress proposed as an additional factor.
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Kayla describes how symptoms attributed to anxiety or reflux preceded a fully blocked artery, a STEMI heart attack at 30, and a SCAD diagnosis.
The brief
Oprah and cardiologist Tara Narula frame cardiovascular disease as a women’s health issue that can begin early, with symptoms often mistaken for anxiety, menopause, stress, or reflux.
Kayla recounts being dismissed before a fully blocked artery caused a STEMI heart attack at 30; SCAD, CPR, ECMO, stents, and heart failure changed her priorities.
The discussion widens from individual diagnosis to structural risk, including gender bias, undertreatment, chronic stress, racism, income, geography, and unequal access to healthy food.
Narula reviews women-specific risks across the lifespan and explains why hypertension can silently damage the heart, brain, kidneys, eyes, and blood vessels.
The American Heart Association’s Life’s Essential Eight anchors prevention, while Narula argues stress deserves recognition as a ninth essential factor alongside purpose, faith, and connection.
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