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Women's Health and Cardiovascular Disease
Many perceive heart disease to be primarily a disease of and concern for men, especially older men. However, the most recent statistics on heart disease confirm that the disease impacts both women and men, and is the number one killer of both.1 Consider these statistics:1,2
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Cardiovascular disease (including coronary artery disease (CAD), stroke, and peripheral artery disease) has killed more women than men in the U.S. every year since 1984. |
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Since the early 1980s, the annual death rate from cardiovascular disease has declined from about 500,000 to 440,000 in men, but has increased for women from about 465,000 to over 500,000. |
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Black females are even more at risk for cardiovascular disease than white females, with death rates per 100,000 of 397 and 286, respectively. |
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CAD rates among women after menopause are 2-3 times those among women before menopause. |
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Females are more likely to die following a myocardial infarction: 38% will die within 1 year, compared with 25% of men. |
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63% of women who die suddenly from CAD had no previous symptoms. |
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Within 6 years of a first heart attack, 35% of women patients will have another heart attack, 14% will develop angina, 11% will have a stroke, 5% will experience sudden cardiac death, and 46% will be disabled with heart failure. |
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As this information suggests, women have every reason to be as concerned about cardiovascular disease as men. One of the reasons for increased mortality among women following the development of cardiovascular disease or a coronary event is that premenopausal hormones tend to slow the atherosclerotic disease process, although the process rapidly catches up following menopause.1 Therefore, women at a specific stage of the disease process tend to be older than men at the same stage1. Increasing age makes a coronary event more dangerous, as the body gradually loses its ability to recover quickly. In addition, older patients are more likely to have other disorders (comorbidities) such as diabetes or hypertension, further compromising the ability to endure a coronary event without death or disability.1
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