Heart Disease in Women

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Basics

• Summary
• Start Here
• Symptoms
• Diagnosis and Tests
• Prevention and Risk Factors

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• Living With
• Related Issues
• Specifics

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Research

• Statistics and Research
• Clinical Trials
• Journal Articles

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Summary

In the United States, 1 in 4 women dies from heart disease. The most common cause of heart disease in both men and women is narrowing or blockage of the coronary arteries, the blood vessels that supply blood to the heart itself. This is called coronary artery disease, and it happens slowly over time. It's the major reason people have heart attacks.

Heart diseases that affect women more than men include:

• Coronary microvascular disease (MVD) - a problem that affects the heart's tiny arteries
• Broken heart syndrome - extreme emotional stress leading to severe but often short-term heart muscle failure

The older a woman gets, the more likely she is to get heart disease. But women of all ages should be concerned about heart disease. All women can take steps to prevent it by practicing healthy lifestyle habits.

NIH: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Start Here

• Heart Disease (Department of Health and Human Services, Office on Women's Health) Also in Spanish
• Heart Health for Women (Food and Drug Administration)
• The Heart Truth (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
• The Heart Truth for Women: Take Action to Protect Your Heart - PDF

Symptoms

• Heart Attack Symptoms in Women (American Heart Association)

Diagnosis and Tests

• Heart Health Tests: MedlinePlus Health Topic (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish

Prevention and Risk Factors

• Heart Disease and Stroke (Department of Health and Human Services, Office on Women's Health)
• Heart Disease in Women: Understand Symptoms and Risk Factors (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish
• Heart Disease Risk Factors (Department of Health and Human Services, Office on Women's Health) Also in Spanish
• Lower Your Risk for the Number 1 Killer of Women (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) Also in Spanish

Living With

• Calcium Supplements: A Risk Factor for Heart Attack? (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish
• Healthy Recipes (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• Heart Healthy Eating (Department of Health and Human Services, Office on Women's Health) Also in Spanish
• What Is Heart-Healthy Living? (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)

Related Issues

• CHD's Impact on Females (American Heart Association)
• Heart Conditions and Pregnancy: Know the Risks (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish
• Heart Disease in Hispanic Women (American Heart Association) Also in Spanish
• Menopause and Heart Disease (American Heart Association)

Specifics

• Heart Attack and Women (Department of Health and Human Services, Office on Women's Health) Also in Spanish

Statistics and Research

• Women and Heart Disease (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Clinical Trials

• ClinicalTrials.gov: Heart Disease in Women (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: Indoor solid fuel use for cooking and the risk of incidental...
• Article: Extracellular Vesicles as an Index for Endothelial Injury and Cardiac Dysfunction...
• Article: Factors associated with hospitalizations for Covid-19 in patients with rheumatoid arthritis:...
• Heart Disease in Women -- see more articles

Reference Desk

• How the Heart Works (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute) Also in Spanish

Find an Expert

• American Heart Association
• National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Patient Handouts

• Heart disease and women (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• The Heart Truth for African American Women: Take Action to Protect Your Heart - PDF
• The Heart Truth for Latinas: Take Action to Protect Your Heart - PDF