FAST FACTS Women and heart disease

Coronary heart disease is the main form of heart disease and affects the blood vessels of the heart. It can result in heart attack, disability and death. The disease develops over years and can be managed but not cured. Risk factors are:
Smoking.
High blood pressure.
High blood cholesterol.
Overweight/obesity.
Physical inactivity.
Diabetes.Family history of early heart disease.
Age (55 and older).
Women often do not take the risk of heart disease seriously. The facts are:
Heart disease is the number one killer of American women.
One in two women in the United States dies of heart disease or stroke while one in 30 dies of breast cancer.
One in every three American women dies of heart disease.
Women's heart disease risk starts to rise in middle age.
About 3 million American women have had a heart attack; 37 percent will die within one year of having an attack.
Two-thirds of American women who have had a heart attack don't make a full recovery.
Only 9 percent of women in a national survey named heart disease as the condition they fear most while 61 percent named breast cancer.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services