• Coronary heart disease is the No. 1 killer of American women each year, claiming more than 500,000 lives.
• In the United States, all cardiovascular diseases combined claim more women's lives every year than the next 16 causes of death combined - and almost twice as many as all forms of cancer.
• Every year since 1984, more women than men have died of cardiovascular disease.
• Almost 20,000 women under the age of 65 die of coronary heart disease each year. More than a third of them are younger than 55.
• There is no previous evidence of coronary heart disease in 63 percent of the women who suddenly die from the disease.
• Within six years after a heart attack, 31 percent of women will have another attack, 34 percent will develop chest pain, 18 percent will have a stroke, 20 percent will be disabled with heart failure, and 6 percent will experience sudden cardiac death.
• Young women who have heart attacks are twice as likely as men the same age to die from them within a few weeks.
• From age 35 to 74, the death rate from coronary disease for African-American women is more than 71 percent higher than that of white women.
• Smoking is the most prevalent and preventable risk factor for cardiovascular disease in women younger than 45.
• 40 percent to 50 percent of women older than 45 have high blood pressure and an elevated total cholesterol level - both well-documented risk factors.
• The cost of cardiovascular diseases and stroke in 2001 is estimated at $298.2 billion. This is only the economic cost. The true cost in human terms of suffering and lost lives is incalculable.

Sources: National Center for Health Statistics
American Heart Association - Heart and Stroke Statistical Update, National Survey of Women and Heart Disease
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
National Institutes of Health - National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

# # #