Know the Statistics

Even though heart disease is the biggest killer of American women, misperceptions about heart disease still exist. There are people who believe that heart disease is not a real problem for women, yet statistics show otherwise.

• Cardiovascular disease kills more women than the next seven causes of death combined.
• Cardiovascular disease kills more women than men. Of total deaths from cardiovascular disease women represented 53.5% of all deaths and men 46.5%.
• Experts estimate that 1 in 2 women will die of heart disease or stroke.
• Within 6 years of a heart attack: 35% of women will have another heart attack, 14% will develop chest pain, 11% will have a stroke, 46% will be disabled with heart failure, and 6% will experience sudden death.
• Forty percent of women, compared to 24% of men, die within one year after a heart attack.

In Indiana and Vanderburgh County

Total deaths from cardiovascular disease in Indiana in one year: 21,900.
In Vanderburgh County in one year: 791, which is 42 percent of all deaths.
Of the 791 deaths, 432, or 55 percent, were women.

Source: Indiana State Department of Health