JUST THE FACTS

JUST THE FACTS
Heart disease and stroke are the No. 1 and No. 3 killers of women over age 25.
Heart attack, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases claim the lives of more than half a million women each year-- about a death a minute. That's more lives than the next seven causes of death combined, and nearly twice as many as all forms of cancer, including breast cancer.
One in five females in the United States have some form of cardiovascular disease.
Every year since 1984, more women than men have died of heart disease, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases. The difference in deaths is more than 65,000 per year.
Sixty-three percent of women who died suddenly of heart disease had no previous symptoms of this disease.
Of the total number of U.S. deaths in 2000 from heart disease and stroke, women represented 53.5 percent of all deaths and men represented 46.5 percent.
Black and Mexican-American women have higher heart disease and stroke risk factors than white women of comparable socioeconomic status.
Heart disease rates in women after menopause are 2-3 times those of women the same age before menopause.
Within six years after a recognized heart attack: 35 percent of women will have another heart attack, 14 percent will develop chest pain, 11 percent will have a stroke, 46 percent will be disabled with heart failure, and 6 percent will experience sudden cardiac death.
At older ages, women who have heart attacks are more likely than men to die from them within a few weeks.
Stroke is the No. 3 cause of death for American women, behind heart disease and cancer. It is a leading cause of serious, long-term disability.
Overall, more women than men die of stroke. In 2000, nearly 103,000 females died from stroke, which represents about 61 percent of the deaths from stroke.
Twenty-five percent of women who have an initial stroke die within a year. This percentage increases among women 65 and older.
Fifty-three percent of women under age 65 who have a stroke die within eight years.
Sources: American Heart Association Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics -- 2003 Update; American Heart Association Biostatistical Fact Sheet; "Women and Cardiovascular Disease"