Heart to Heart: The Facts

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Overview | The Facts | Signs & Symptoms
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SHMC Cardiac Service

Cardiovascular disease (of the heart or blood vessels) is the #1 cause of death in women.

In fact, it kills more women than the next 16 causes of death combined. For more than 20 years, heart disease has killed nearly as many women as men.

Women worry more about breast cancer.

True, one in 29 women will die of breast cancer. But one in three women will die of heart disease or stroke.

Cardiovascular disease is a major cause of premature, permanent disability.

One in five adult women lives with heart disease, while two-thirds of women who have heart attacks never fully recover.

Women are diagnosed and treated differently.

They are less likely to receive cardiovascular tests and medications … and less likely to have heart surgery.

Women ARE different, but we’re not sure how.

Until the past decade, women weren’t even included in cardiovascular research. The first large study of women, begun in 1991, won’t report final results until 2005.

Current information reveals how women’s symptoms during a heart attack may be different from men. And women react quite differently to drugs prescribed for heart disease and other conditions. It’s time to make sure you’re receiving the very best, most up-to-date care for heart attacks, stroke, heart failure, high blood pressure and circulation problems. Your life depends on it.