Quick Facts
Heart Disease & Stroke

1.
Only 13 percent of women view heart disease as a personal health threat, even though it’s women’s No. 1 killer.

2.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) kills 480,000 women a year, about one per minute.

3.
One in three adult females and males in the United States suffers from a form of CVD.

4.
CVD claims more lives of women than the next four most common causes of death combined.

5.
On average, an American dies of CVD every 35 seconds.

6.
Coronary heart disease is the No. 1 single killer of women over age 25.

7.
Sixty-four percent of women who died suddenly of coronary heart disease had no previous symptoms.

8.
One in 2.6 female deaths are from CVD, compared with one in 30 from breast cancer.

9.
Heart disease rates in post-menopausal women are two to three times higher than in pre-menopausal women of the same age.

10.
Stroke is the No. 3 cause of death for American women, and is a leading cause of serious, long-term disability.

11.
Stroke kills more women than men. In 2003, females represented 61 percent of stroke deaths.