Women under 55 often fail to get timely treatment for heart attacks because they simply aren't aware of the symptoms, new research suggests.

Researchers studied 30 women with a median age of 48 who had suffered heart attacks. They conducted telephone interviews with them seven days after they were discharged from hospital between October 2006 and May 2007.

They found that when the women described their symptoms, they said they had confused them with stomach complaints and tiredness.

"We found that most failed to connect their symptoms with a heart condition, commonly misattributing them to fatigue, indigestion, stress or overexertion," said Judith Lichtman, lead author of the study and associate professor of epidemiology and public health at the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn.

The researchers also found that many of the women had no idea they were at risk of heart disease.

Many expressed disbelief that their symptoms had been so different from the heart attacks portrayed in the media, such as redness in the face, grasping of the chest and shortness of breath.

"They wish that they had known that symptoms such as neck and shoulder pain, abdominal discomfort that was easy to mistake for indigestion, or unusual fatigue could signal a heart problem," said Lichtman.

Many women also reported that urgent action hadn't been taken when they reported their symptoms to their doctors. In many cases, they received an appointment a few days after their initial call and if they ended up in emergency rooms, sat for extended periods because they were thought to have non life-threatening non-heart related conditions, they said.

Lichtman said health providers need to be aware that young women may experience atypical and typical heart attack symptoms and treat them promptly. In the U.S,. five per cent of women under 55 have heart disease and 16,000 die of it annually, she pointed out.

"Because heart disease is less common at this younger age, current media campaigns and prevention messages do not appear to be reaching this group," she said.

The findings of the study were presented Friday at the American Heart Association's 9th Scientific Forum on Quality of Care and Outcomes Research in Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke.