Myocardial infarction in women: promoting symptom recognition, early diagnosis, and risk assessment.

Even with national campaigns to help increase awareness, most people do not realize that heart disease is now the leading cause of death for women. Women experiencing an acute cardiac event often do not recognize the symptoms or are misdiagnosed by healthcare providers because of atypical symptom presentation. This can lead to a significant delay in treatment and a less desirable recovery outcome. To help promote early identification of cardiac risk and cardiac events, this article highlights the range of symptom presentation in women with myocardial infarction and focuses on how advanced clinical nurses can increase nurses' and the public's understanding of this disease in women.