Heart Disease in Women
According to the American Heart Association's Heart Disease and
Stroke Statistics, cardiovascular disease (CVD) is still the
United States number one killer of men and women of all ethnic
groups. The statistical update for 2005 utilized the statistics
compiled for 2002, or the most recent year that data are
available. Cardiovascular diseases include high blood pressure,
arrhythmia, valve disease, congestive heart failure and stroke.
Coronary heart disease (CHD) or hardening of the arteries is the
largest killer of Americans. There were 494.4 thousand coronary
heart disease deaths in 2002 including 179.5 thousand deaths
from heart attack. The deaths from CHD included 241.6 thousand
females of which 25.9 thousand were Black females. The number of
deaths from strokes for Black females was 9.6 thousand.
CVD* Profile: * 1 in 4 females has some form of cardiovascular
disease. * Since 1984, the number of CVD deaths for females has
exceeded those for males. * In 2002 CVD caused the deaths of
493, 623 females compared with 433,825 males. Females represent
53.2 percent of deaths from CVD. * In the United States in 2002,
all cardiovascular diseases combined claim the lives of 493,623
females while all forms of cancer combined to kill 268,503
females. Breast cancer claimed the lives of 41,514 females; lung
cancer claimed 67,542. * The 2002 overall death rate from CVD
was 320.5. Death rates were