Cardiovascular disease is NOT just a man’s disease. Cardiovascular disease is the Number 1 killer of women over age 25 in the United States, regardless of race or ethnicity. The death rate from cardiovascular diseases has decreased among men, but continues to increase in women.
Unfortunately, only 13 percent of women identify heart disease as the greatest health problem facing women today. Most women think that breast cancer is the leading cause of death in women. But cardiovascular disease is the single leading cause of death for women in America and most developed countries, and claims the lives of more women than all forms of cancer combined.
- There are 8,000,000 American women living with heart disease today.
- 1 in 4 women has some form of cardiovascular disease.
- 1 in 3 American women dies from heart disease.
- Cardiovascular disease claims the lives of nearly 500,000 women each year. That's about one death every minute.
- Since 1984, the number of female deaths from cardiovascular disease has exceeded that of males.
- Cardiovascular disease is a particularly important problem among minority women. The 2002 overall death rate from cardiovascular disease was 320.5, including a death rate of 368.1 among black females and 265.6 among white females.
- In 2002 in the United States, 49 percent of all female deaths occurred from coronary heart disease (CHD).
- This year, an estimated 345,000 women will have a heart attack.
- 38 percent of women compared to 25 percent of men will die within one year of having a heart attack.
- Coronary heart disease rates in women after menopause are 2 to 3 times those of women the same age before menopause.
- 64 percent of women who die suddenly because of coronary heart disease had no previous symptoms.
Source: American Heart Association Web site, “Women and Coronary Heart Disease.”
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