PENNSYLVANIA, USA — Heart disease is the number one killer of women, “More women die of heart disease every year than all forms of cancer combined together,” said Stephanie Deviney, CRNP Interventional Cardiology UPMC.

Stephanie Deviney is a Certified Registered Nurse Practitioner at UPMC. She says women’s symptoms of heart disease tend to be more subtle than men’s, “Women often times get nausea, fatigue, sometimes jaw and tooth pain. They are not the typical elephant sat on my chest pain.”

Women develop heart disease later in life than men, usually after menopause, and symptoms of heart failure in women differ from those of a heart attack.

“Those symptoms tend to be weight gain, noticing shortness of breath. Starting off when you’re climbing two flights of stairs and becoming progressively worse over a short period of time. Some people notice swelling in their ankles or in their bellies as well,” said Deviney.

To reduce your risk for heart disease, Deviney says know your numbers, “Know what your cholesterol numbers are, know what your blood pressure is running. If you are a diabetic, what is your hemoglobin A1C, That’s a 90-day average of your blood sugar. So it gives us a lot more information than one random spot check in your doctor’s office.”

Also, be aware of your risk factors. Do you smoke? Are you diabetic? Do you have a family history of heart disease?

To keep your heart healthy, Deviney recommends not smoking, getting 30 minutes of exercise every day, and improving your diet, “We want people to eat the rainbow every day. we don’t want a beige plate. So, two-thirds of your plate should be fruits, vegetables, and heart-healthy grains. So brown rice over white rice. Little changes like that will help.”