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Print Did You Know: That heart disease is the leading cause of death in American women?
Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) is the broad term for diseases of the heart and blood vessels, such as heart disease and stroke. You may not think you are at risk, but the American Heart Association says to think again:
FACT: CVD ranks first among all disease categories in hospital discharges for women.
FACT: CVD, particularly coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke, remain the leading causes of death of women in America and most developed countries with 44.6 percent of all female deaths occurring from CVD.
FACT: The death rate due to CVD is 69 percent higher in black women than in white women.
FACT: In 1995, CVD claimed the lives of 505,440 females - cancer 256,844.
FACT: 44 percent of women compared with 27 percent of men will die within one year after a heart attack.
FACT: Of the approximately 4 million stroke survivors alive today, 52 percent are women.
FACT: Coronary heart disease claims the lives of 236,468 females annually compared with 43,800 lives from breast cancer and 60,600 from lung cancer.
So get HEART SMART - your health depends on it! For more information on your heart health, visit the American Heart Association's women's page at http://women.americanheart.org/
*statistics from the American Heart Association.