Heart Facts...

• 1 in 4 women in the US die from heart disease
• Heart disease kills more people in America than anything else
• What can we do about it
  
• Why does this happen

Most of us know what causes heart disease, yet we don’t believe it will happen to us! Surely it’s someone else’s problem, right? WRONG!
 

• 23% of women will die within one year after having a heart attack.
• Within 6 years of having a heart attack, 46% of women become disable with heart failure.
• 2/3 of women who have a heart attack don’t make a full recovery .
• 1 in 8 women between the ages of 45 and 64 has some form of heart disease and this increases to 1 in 4 women over 65 years of age.

We are often quick to dismiss any symptoms we may have, or the symptoms might be so mild that they can be mistaken for something else. So how do we know what to pay attention to? Make an appointment with your doctor and talk to your doctor! For a lot of us, actually getting to the doctor is the hardest part. Perhaps when you get there, you forget all those questions you had. Print out this NHLBI handout for help as to what to ask, and write your answers down on the back.

From The Healthy Heart Handbook for Women….See the handbook from the NHLBI.