• 8,000,000 American women are currently living with heart disease - 10% of women ages 45 - 64 and 25% age 65 and over.
• 6,000,000 of women today have a history of heart attack and/or angina or both. Nearly
• 13% of women age 45 and over have had a heart attack.
• 435,000 American women have heart attacks each year; 83,000 are under age 65 and 9,000 are under age 45. Their average age is 70.4.
• 4,000,000 women suffer from angina, and 47,000 of them were hospitalized in 1999.

Mortality:

• Heart disease is the leading cause of death of American women and kills 32% of them.
• 43% of deaths in American women, or nearly 500,000, are caused by cardiovascular disease (heart disease and stroke) each year.
• 267,000 women die each year from heart attacks, which kill six times as many women as breast cancer.
• 31, 837 women die each year of congestive heart failure, or 62.6% of all heart failure deaths.

At-Risk:

• The age-adjusted rate of heart disease for African American women is 72% higher than for white women, while African American women ages 55-64 are twice as likely as white women to have a heart attack and 35% more likely to suffer from coronary artery disease.
• Women who smoke risk having a heart attack 19 years earlier than non-smoking women.
• Women with diabetes are two to three times more likely to have heart attacks.
• High blood pressure is more common in women taking oral contraceptives, especially in obese women.
• 39% of white women, 57% of black women, 57% of Hispanic women, and 49% Asian/Pacific Islander women are sedentary and get no leisure time physical activity.
• 23% of white women, 38% of black women, and 36% Mexican American women are obese.

Compared with Men:

• 38% of women and 25% of men will die within one year of a first recognized heart attack.
• 35% of women and 18% of men heart attack survivors will have another heart attack within six years.
• 46% of women and 22% of men heart attack survivors will be disabled with heart failure within six years.
• Women are almost twice as likely as men to die after bypass surgery.
• Women are less likely than men to receive beta-blockers, ACE inhibitors or even aspirin after a heart attack.
• More women than men die of heart disease each year, yet women receive only:
  • 33% of angioplasties, stents and bypass surgeries
  • 28% of inplantable defibrillators and
  • 36% of open-heart surgeries

  • Women comprise only 25% of participants in all heart-related research studies. Statistics complied from: National Center on Health Statistics; National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute; and American Heart Association's 2002 Heart and Stroke Statistical Update.