Not really misunderstood but misdiagnosed as the symptoms are often quite different including the major symptom - acute chest pain which almost 2&#x2F;3rd of women who have went through a cardiac event do not experience, that percentage is even higher in women that went through vaginal labor.<p>It seems that the best tool doctors have is where does it hurt &gt; my chest &gt; heart attack.
Women just do not seem to have the same pain sensation not in scale nor location as men when it comes to heart attacks which it makes it very hard to diagnose. Most female heart attack cases do not get reported simply because allot of them do not feel any significant pain and those that do often feel it in other parts of their body.
Add to that the fact that allot of heart attack likelihood increases with age which coincides with menopause which on it&#x27;s own introduces lightheadedness, shortness of breath, sharp pains and other similar symptoms to cardiac distress and you get a diagnostic nightmare.<p>There are other conditions which are more rarely go under diagnosed in men such as bladder cancer, breast cancer (cancer on it&#x27;s own is more prevalent in men and women often are diagnosed earlier, and have much higher survival rates some times upwards of 50% difference), eating disorders and many various other things.