Statistics on Women and Heart Disease
- Coronary heart disease is the leading cause of death
for American women.
- In 1997, cardiovascular disease (CVD) claimed the lives
of more than 502,938 women in the United States. In comparison,
breast cancer killed 41,943 women in 1997.
- Almost 500,000 people died of heart attacks and other
coronary events in 1997; of those victims, 228,769 (49.1
percent) were women.
- More than one in five women has some form of heart or
blood vessel disease.
- About 42 percent of women who have a heart attack die
within 1 year, compared with 24 percent of men.
- During the first 6 years after a heart attack, 33 percent
of women will have a second attack compared with 21 percent
of men.
- The death rate for coronary heart disease in 1997 was
14.6 percent higher for African-American women than for
white women, and African-American women’s death
rate for stroke was 31.4 percent higher than the rate
for white women.
- Studies show that women smokers who use oral contraceptives
are more likely to have a heart attack and are much more
likely to have a stroke than are nonsmokers who use birth
control pills.
- According to a 1995 Gallup survey, 88 percent of primary
care physicians were not aware that women’s heart
attack symptoms may differ greatly from men’s symptoms.
- Emergency room physicians miss the signs of heart attack
in women under 55 in 7 percent of cases, whereas male
patients are misdiagnosed in 2 percent of cases, according
to a recent study published in the New England Journal
of Medicine.
- Women die in the hospital at a higher rate than men
after a heart attack. Studies point to the fact that women
receive much less aggressive treatment than men (for example,
cardiac catheterization, aspirin, or beta-blockers).
Reference
“Women
and Coronary Heart Disease,” American Heart Association,
2002.
Source of Material: RockHill Communications, 14
Rock Hill Road Bala, Cynwyd, PA 19004, (610) 667-2040, http://www.RockHillCommunications.com
Writer: Christine Norris
Editors: Andrea King, Joanne Poeggel, Erin Murphy, Ron
Wozny
Clinical Reviewer: Patt Panzer, M.D.
Date Written: 3/1/01
Last Reviewed & Updated: 5/31/2003 |
