Women Heart Disease Statistics
Do you know that heart disease is the number one cardiovascular disease (CVD) killing 500,000 million women each year? Heart disease is the leading cause of disability in many women.
According to the American Academy of Family physicians, heart disease is the leading cause of death among women over 65 years of age. They also say that women are 4-6 times more likely to die of heart disease than breast cancer.Cardiovascular disease has more fatal consequences in a woman who has also developed cancer.
Statistics on Cardiovascular disease (CVD)
- CVD ranks top among the disease categories for women, especially who are discharged from a hospital
- Heart disease is prevalent among 1 in 5 women in the US
- According to the US department of Health and Human Services, 1 in 3 women dies of heart disease.
- The department statistics also indicate that nearly two-thirds of American women who died of heart attacks had no prior symptoms.
- According to the American Heart Association (AHA), every 34 seconds a woman dies from a heart disease
- AHA also says that most women develop heart attack at a very young age these days.
- AHA indicates that 75% of men survive first heart attack, while only 62% women survive with the first attack.
- Death rates of black women with CVD are higher than in white women.
- Another report indicates that 41.3% of all female deaths in America occur from CVD, particularly coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke.
- It is also found that 38 % of women compared with 25 % of men will die within one year after a heart attack.
- At least 8.6 million women die from heart disease each year.
- According to National Coalition of Heart Disease, 33 %of angioplasties, stents and bypass surgeries are done for women with CVD
- It also says that 28 % of implantable defibrillators and 36 percent of open-heart surgeries are performed on women with CVD.
Lack of awareness in women
According to the study conducted by the American Heart Association, only 13 % of women believe that CVD is the major threat to their life. Harris Interactive Inc conducted the study among 1,000 women.
Another study by few research institutes indicates that only 55 %of women are aware that CVD is the leading cause of death among women. The study also states that only 20% of women identified heart problem as the major health issue facing women today.
CVD - Men Vs Women
- Heart attacks acts differently in men and women. While most of male plaques surround the clumps, women's are distributed through the artery walls. This often leads to the misinterpretation of angiogram being normal in women.
- Women with heart attacks are recognized slowly due to the lower frequencies of chest pains with characteristic patterns and ECG changes.This delays the women's emergency attention for heart attacks.
- Beta Blockers like ACE inhibitors and aspirin that improve survival after a heart attack hardly work with women. This results in higher rate of complications after heart attack in women.
- 38% of women and 25% of men die within a year after recognition of first heart attack.
- Young women between the ages of 40-59 are up to 4 times more likely to die from heart bypass surgery than men of the same age.
- There are fewer heart disease procedures for women and the best course of treatment for CVD among women is yet to be established.
- Unfortunately, only 24% of women comprise the participants of all heart-related studies.
