Hospital reports steep rise in women with heart attack-like symptoms as sons in Gaza

Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in Hadera reports a significant increase in women in their 50s coming to the emergency room with heart attack symptoms. In most cases, the symptoms are caused by the stress these women are experience because of having sons or daughters serving in the military during the war.

“This is the first time we have more women than men in our cardiac intensive care unit,” Prof. Ariel Rogin, head of the hospital’s cardiac division, told Doctors Only, an online publication for the Israeli medical community.

In some cases, the women are undergoing actual heart attacks or have some sort of arterial blockage. However, many are suffering from Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, which is also known as “broken heart syndrome.” This occurs when severe psychological stress raises adrenaline levels and causes the functioning of the heart muscle to slow down temporarily.

Anyone experiencing chest pain or pressure, difficulty breathing, excessive sweating, dizziness, or fainting following exposure to stressful events or news should be taken immediately for medical evaluation at a hospital emergency room.