FACTS ABOUT WOMEN AND HEART DISEASE:

Source: The American Heart Association

r Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) claim the lives of more than half a million females annually, or about one death per minute.

r One in 29 women’s deaths are from breast cancer, while almost one out of two deaths is from CVD.

r Sixty-three percent of women who died suddenly of coronary heart disease had no previous symptoms of the disease.

r Of the total number of U.S. deaths from CVD in 2000, women represented 53.5 percent, men 46.5 percent.

r Non-Hispanic Black and Mexican-American women have higher CVD risk factors than white women of comparable socioeconomic status.

r Coronary heart disease rates in women after menopause are two to three times those of women the same age before menopause.

r The cost of cardiovascular diseases and stroke in the U.S. in 2003 is estimated at $352 billion. In 2002, estimated cost of all cancers was $202 billion.

r Survey results in 2002 show women’s knowledge of heart disease increased by 6 percent from 34 percent to 40 percent since 1997.

r Based on a 2000 survey, 38 percent of women report that doctors have discussed heart disease with them when discussing their health, compared to 30 percent of women in 1997.