Heart disease is the number one killer of women in the United States. Some of the symptoms and risk factors for heart disease and heart attack are different for women than men. Your risk may also be different from other women. But every woman can take steps to prevent heart disease by knowing her risk factors and making healthy changes.
Heart Disease and Stroke
Heart disease and stroke are important health issues for all women. Heart disease is the number one killer of American women, and stroke is fourth. While heart disease is most common in older women, most women between 40 and 60 years old have at least one risk factor for heart disease. The good news is that you can lower your risk for heart disease and stroke at any age.
Heart disease is the number one killer of women in the United States. Some of the symptoms and risk factors for heart disease and heart attack are different for women than men. Your risk may also be different from other women. But every woman can take steps to prevent heart disease by knowing her risk factors and making healthy changes.
In the United States, almost one in four women dies from heart disease. Heart disease is the most common cause of death in American women. Some types of heart problems are more common in women.
"Heart disease" refers to several types of problems that affect the heart. The most common type of heart disease is coronary artery disease (CAD). Heart disease is also called cardiovascular disease. Cardiovascular disease includes diseases of the blood vessels, which carry blood to different parts of your body. These include coronary artery disease, vascular (peripheral artery) disease, and stroke.
Coronary artery disease (CAD) is also called coronary heart disease. CAD is the most common type of heart disease. In CAD, plaque builds up on the walls of the arteries that carry blood to the heart muscle. Over time, this buildup causes the arteries to narrow and harden, a process called atherosclerosis (ath-UH-roh-skluh-ROH-sis). Atherosclerosis prevents the heart from getting all the blood and oxygen it needs. This can lead to angina (an-JEYE-nuh), or chest pain.
Certain types of heart problems affect women more than men.
About 4 million women in the United States suffer from angina (chest pain and discomfort). Angina also affects men, but women are more likely than men to get two specific types of angina: stable and variant (Prinzmetal's) angina.
Cardiac syndrome X is a health problem that happens when people with healthy, unblocked arteries have chest pain (angina) and coronary artery spasms. A spasm is when the artery pinches itself closed.
The cause of cardiac syndrome X is not known. Some possible causes include:
Broken heart syndrome, also called stress-induced cardiomyopathy (or takotsubo cardiomyopathy), can happen even if you're healthy. Researchers do not know the exact cause of broken heart syndrome. Symptoms are often triggered by extreme stress, such as intense grief, anger, or surprise. Women are more likely than men to experience broken heart syndrome. Experts think that a surge of stress hormones "stuns" the heart, causing intense, short-lived symptoms that usually don't cause permanent damage to the heart.
Most women who experience broken heart syndrome are older, between 58 and 75 years old. This is probably due to a drop in estrogen levels after menopause.
Broken heart syndrome can be misdiagnosed as a heart attack. The symptoms and test results are similar, but there are no blocked heart arteries. Instead, a part of your heart temporarily enlarges while the rest of the heart works normally. Broken heart syndrome can lead to short-term heart failure, but it is usually easily treatable.
The most common symptom of heart disease is chest pain or discomfort. However, some women who have coronary artery disease (CAD) have no symptoms. This is called silent CAD. Silent CAD may not be diagnosed until a woman has symptoms of a heart attack, heart failure, or an arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat).
The illustration in the sidebar shows the major symptoms of heart disease that affect most women.
Call 911 right away if you have the symptoms of a heart attack. Talk to your doctor or nurse if you have any other symptoms of heart disease.
A heart attack happens when blood flow in an artery to the heart is blocked by a blood clot or plaque, and the heart muscle begins to die. Women are more likely than men to die after a heart attack. But if you get help quickly, treatment can save your life and prevent permanent damage to your heart.
A heart attack happens when blood flow to your heart muscle is blocked and the cells in your heart muscle begin to die. Many different health problems can cause a heart attack, but coronary artery disease is the most common.
The most common symptoms of a heart attack for both women and men are pain and discomfort in the chest and upper body. Other symptoms, like shortness of breath and nausea, are more common in women than men. Learn more about heart attack symptoms in women.
A heart attack is not the same as cardiac arrest. In a heart attack, the heart keeps beating. The person has a pulse and usually stays conscious (awake). During cardiac arrest, the heart stops beating. The person has no pulse and is unconscious (not awake).
A defibrillator (dee-FIB-ruh-lay-tur) is a machine that sends an electrical shock to the heart to restore normal rhythm. This treatment must be given as soon as possible. For cardiac arrest, call 911 and begin CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) right away. The American Heart Association says that with "hands only" CPR, anyone can give lifesaving treatment to someone having cardiac arrest. Push hard and fast in the center of the chest and keep going until emergency personnel arrive. Do not give CPR for a heart attack.
Coronary artery disease (CAD) causes most heart attacks. In people with CAD, plaque builds up on the walls of the arteries that supply blood to the heart. This is called atherosclerosis (ath-UH-roh-skluh-ROH-sis).
Plaque can build up in fatty clumps or in a thin, smooth layer. Both types are dangerous. The plaque can break open or wear down, causing blood to clump together (clot) in that area. If a clot blocks blood flow to the heart, it can cause a heart attack.
This picture shows how CAD causes a heart attack. Plaque builds up in an artery of the heart, and a blood clot forms. The clot blocks blood flow to part of the heart, and the heart muscle begins to die.
A heart attack can also happen if the artery pinches itself closed. This is called a coronary spasm. Coronary spasms are rare. They happen more often in young women than in older women or men.
Learn more about CAD.
A heart attack can happen to anyone, woman or man, young or old. Some people are more at risk because of certain health problems, family health history, age, and habits. These are called risk factors.
You can't change some risk factors, like your age, race or ethnicity, or family history. The good news is that you can change or control many risk factors, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, and unhealthy eating.
Learn more about controllable and uncontrollable risk factors for heart disease.
Yes. All women need to be aware of their heart attack risk and take steps to prevent heart disease.
African-American, Hispanic, and American Indian or Alaska Native women often have more heart attack risk factors than white women. These risk factors can include obesity, lack of physical activity, high blood pressure, and diabetes.
African-American women are also more likely to have a heart attack and more likely to die from a heart attack compared with white women.
Yes. In all age groups, women do worse than men after a heart attack. Researchers are not sure why this is, especially for younger women.
Many women who have had a heart attack go on to lead full, active lives. Know the symptoms of a heart attack and what to do if you have any symptoms. Take steps to recover after a heart attack and prevent another heart attack.
To diagnose a heart attack, a doctor will ask you about your symptoms, your health, and your family health history. The doctor will also order tests.
Doctors often use these types of tests to diagnose a heart attack and choose the best treatment.
Women are more likely than men to have a less-common type of plaque that forms a smooth layer over the arteries instead of a few big lumps. Often, angiograms can't see this thin, smooth plaque, but this type of plaque is still very dangerous. Other tests (such as those described above) might be needed for women who show signs or have symptoms of a heart attack but whose coronary angiography results do not show any problems.
Heart attack is most often treated with medicine or nonsurgical procedures that break up blood clots and restore normal blood flow to the heart. Some treatments will start right away, when the ambulance comes. You will get other treatments later, in the hospital.
Getting treatment right away for a heart attack can help prevent or limit damage to your heart muscle. This is one reason why it is important to call 911 if you think you are having a heart attack, rather than driving yourself to the hospital.
Medicines you might receive if you have a heart attack include:
You may also be given other medicines to relieve pain or anxiety or lower your cholesterol.
The most common procedures to treat a heart attack include:
After a heart attack, you may also need cardiac rehabilitation to recover from the damage the heart attack did to your heart.
All women can make changes to help prevent a heart attack. These changes include making healthier food choices, being more physically active, and not smoking. Once you know your heart attack risk factors, you and your doctor can work together to lower your risk.
Even if you had a heart attack before, you can make changes to help prevent another heart attack. Learn more steps to prevent heart attack and heart disease.
For more information about heart attack, call the OWH Helpline at 1-800-994-9662 or check out the following resources from other organizations:
Many people think the warning signs of a heart attack are sudden, like a movie heart attack, where someone clutches his chest and falls over. A real heart attack may look and feel very different for women. Women are more likely to have nontraditional symptoms of heart attack than men. And women are also more likely to have silent heart attacks.
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For both women and men, the most common heart attack symptom is pain or discomfort in the center of the chest. The pain or discomfort can be mild or strong. It can last more than a few minutes, or it can go away and come back.
The more heart attack symptoms that you have, the more likely it is that you are having a heart attack. Also, if you've already had a heart attack, your symptoms may not be the same for another one. Even if you are not totally sure you are having a heart attack, call 911 right away.
Women are more likely than men to have a different symptom of heart attack than chest pain or discomfort. These symptoms include:
Women are more likely than men to have heart attacks that do not show obvious symptoms. These are called silent heart attacks. All women should know and talk about their risk factors for heart attack with their doctor or nurse.
If you think you, or someone else, may be having a heart attack, call 911 right away. Do not drive yourself to the hospital, and do not let a friend drive you. You may need medical help on the way to the hospital. Ambulance workers are trained to treat you on the way to the emergency room.
Getting to the hospital quickly is important. Treatments for opening clogged arteries work best within the first hour after a heart attack starts.
If you think you're having a heart attack, get emergency help right away. Don't let anyone tell you that you are overreacting or to wait and see. Get tips on how best to describe your symptoms and how to ask for tests that can show whether you're having a heart attack.
A silent heart attack is a heart attack that does not cause obvious symptoms. Your doctor may discover a silent heart attack days, weeks, or months later on an electrocardiogram test used to diagnose a heart problem.
Silent heart attack:
For more information about heart attack symptoms, call the OWH Helpline at 1-800-994-9662 or check out the following resources from other organizations:
Only half of women who have heart attacks have chest pain. Women are more likely than men to get other symptoms, including back or neck pain, indigestion, heartburn, and nausea. These symptoms are often easy to ignore or pass off as something else. Women may never even know they had a heart attack until they have another, more severe heart attack.
Heart disease and women (PDF, 129 KB)
Heart disease risk factors
Your general health, everyday habits, and family health history can affect your risk for heart disease. Although you can control some of these risk factors, like your habits, others, like your age or race and ethnicity, can't be controlled. The more risk factors you have for heart disease, the higher your risk.
Find steps women can take to lower their risk for heart disease.
Smoking causes heart disease and can be even more dangerous for women than men. Women over 35 who smoke have a slightly higher risk of dying from heart disease compared to male smokers over 35. Smokers are up to four times more likely to have heart disease than nonsmokers. Even smoking in your 20s speeds up the process of developing heart disease.
Smoking raises your risk for heart disease in many ways, including:
The longer you smoke, the more your risk of heart disease and heart attack goes up.
But within one year of quitting smoking, your heart disease risk is cut in half compared to what it was while you smoked. Within 15 years, your heart disease risk is the same as a woman who never smoked.2
Learn more about the risks of smoking and find women-specific resources for quitting at Women.SmokeFree.gov.
If you smoke, do not use hormonal birth control. Many studies have found that women who smoke and take combination birth control pills (birth control pills with both estrogen and progesterone) are at even higher risk of heart disease and stroke, especially women older than 35. Like smoking, birth control pills, and possibly other forms of combination hormonal birth control like the vaginal ring or skin patch, can raise your risk for blood clots and high blood pressure. Blood clots and high blood pressure can cause a heart attack or stroke.
Secondhand smoke also can harm the heart and blood vessels of people who don't smoke in the same way that smoking harms people who smoke. There are two types of secondhand smoke. One type is the smoke that comes from the burning end of a cigarette, cigar, or pipe. The other type is smoke that is breathed out by someone who is smoking. Both types are harmful when inhaled.
Electronic or e-cigarettes, also called vaporizer cigarettes, release water vapor. Most e-cigarettes contain nicotine, the addictive chemical found in regular cigarettes. The Food and Drug Administration regulates e-cigarettes and all other tobacco products. Researchers do not yet know the potential long-term health effects of e-cigarettes or how much nicotine or other harmful chemicals are inhaled.
Researchers also do not yet know what effect e-cigarettes have on heart health. Talk to your doctor about the dangers of e-cigarettes to your health.
What you eat is a big part of preventing heart disease and other chronic (long-term) diseases like type 2 diabetes. Eating healthy can also prevent other health problems that lead to heart disease, like high blood pressure or obesity.
There is no special vitamin or ingredient that can prevent disease. Healthy eating to prevent chronic diseases means eating a healthy combination of foods from all of the food groups. Use the interactive calculator at ChooseMyPlate.gov to find a personalized healthy eating plan.
Eating healthy also means you do not eat a lot of food with saturated fat or trans fat, sodium (salt), or added sugar.
Learn more about heart-healthy eating.
Less than one in every five American women gets enough physical activity to help prevent heart disease. Being inactive is a major risk for heart disease.
The heart is like any other muscle: the more you work it, the stronger it gets. Physical activity also helps keep your blood vessels flexible and open so the blood can reach all of your organs. It can help prevent the buildup of plaque in the arteries. Being active also can prevent other risk factors for heart disease. These include high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity.
You need to get at least 30 minutes of physical activity five times a week to stay healthy. Learn more about physical activity.
If you don't already drink, don't start drinking for health reasons. Researchers are not sure that even one drink per day for women (or less) is heart healthy. More than three drinks a day can raise blood pressure and triglyceride levels and can damage your heart muscle. In women, there is strong evidence that alcohol increases your risk of breast cancer.
There are many women who should not drink any alcohol, including
No amount of alcohol is recommended in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans because the potential risks and harms outweigh any benefit.
Stress is your body's response to a change or a challenge. Long-term stress raises your risk of heart disease. If you have heart disease, long-term stress also makes you more likely to have a heart attack.
An emotionally upsetting event, especially one involving anger, can be a trigger for heart attack. Stress also may indirectly raise your risk of heart disease if it makes you more likely to smoke, eat unhealthy foods, or less likely to exercise.
Learn more about stress and your health, including how to cope with stress in healthy ways.
For more information about heart disease risk factors, call the OWH Helpline at 1-800-994-9662 or check out the following resources from other organizations:
Heart disease and women (PDF, 129 KB)
Take these steps to manage health problems and lower your risk for heart disease.
High blood pressure, also called hypertension, raises your risk for heart disease. Blood pressure is the force your blood makes against your artery walls when your heart beats. If this force (pressure) is too high, it can damage your heart over time.
Your risk for high blood pressure goes up as you age. Two out of every 3 women 60 and older have high blood pressure.
You are also more likely to have high blood pressure if you have a family history of high blood pressure. Other risk factors for high blood pressure include eating unhealthy food often, not exercising, and being overweight.
In the United States, African-American women are at the highest risk for high blood pressure. This may be because African-American women are more likely to be obese or have diabetes, which can cause high blood pressure. Research has also found a gene common in African-Americans that increases sensitivity to salt. In people who have this gene, just one extra half a teaspoon of salt a day could raise blood pressure. Also, studies show that blood pressure levels are higher among African-Americans in the United States even after controlling for other health factors, and some of the difference is likely due to the effects of discrimination.
Many women — more than men — get "white coat hypertension." This means that your anxiety or stress level goes up when you are at the doctor's office, and this can make your blood pressure go up. If medical visits increase your anxiety level, ask your doctor for a monitor to wear at home to get a more accurate blood pressure reading.
High blood pressure does not usually have symptoms. The only way to know you have it is to get your blood pressure measured. Measure your blood pressure to find out your numbers:
To lower your risk for heart disease, try to lower your blood pressure levels to less than 120 systolic/80 diastolic. To lower your blood pressure:
Learn more about high blood pressure.
Cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like substance that is found in all cells of your body. Your body makes all the cholesterol you need. You also get cholesterol and saturated fat from food such as meat and dairy products. Fruits and vegetables do not have any cholesterol or saturated fat.
The extra fat from the foods you eat can clog your arteries. A blood test can measure your levels of:
In women, high triglycerides combined with low HDL cholesterol can mean a very high risk of heart disease. There are no symptoms of high cholesterol or triglycerides. The only way to know whether you have high LDL or "bad" cholesterol or triglyceride levels is to see your doctor for a blood test. Your doctor can prescribe medicines and talk with you about changing your eating habits and getting more physical activity to help lower your cholesterol level.
Learn more about high cholesterol.
The more overweight you are, the higher your risk of heart disease is. This is true even if you have no other risk factors.
Three out of every four women in the United States are overweight or obese. Women of all races and ethnicities are more likely to be obese than men of the same age, but women in some racial groups are more likely to be obese than others.
Extra weight increases your heart disease risk in two main ways:
To lower your risk for heart disease, your body mass index (BMI) should be between 18.5 and 24.9. A BMI between 25 and 29.9 is considered overweight. A BMI of 30 or higher is considered obese. Find your BMI using this BMI calculator from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Where you carry extra weight also affects your heart disease risk. Women who carry body fat around their waists (apple-shaped body) are at higher risk for heart disease than those who carry weight around their hips and thighs (pear-shaped body). Women with waist measurements more than 35 inches, regardless of their height, have a higher risk of heart disease.
Women with an apple-shaped body may have a higher risk for heart disease than women with a pear-shaped body.
Diabetes seriously raises your risk for heart disease and makes you less likely to survive a heart attack. This is true for women and men. But the number of men with diabetes who develop heart disease has gone down. The number of women with diabetes who develop heart disease has not gone down in recent years. Experts think this may be because of the link between heart disease, diabetes, and obesity, especially extra body fat that is carried around the waist. This link may be stronger for women, especially postmenopausal women, than for men.
Uncontrolled diabetes can damage your arteries and make you more likely to get high blood pressure and form blood clots that can cause a heart attack. About 28% of Americans with diabetes don't know that they have it. The only way to know for sure whether you have diabetes is to get a blood test.
Learn more at our diabetes page and learn about the link between diabetes and the risk for heart disease.
Metabolic (met-uh-BOL-ihk) syndrome is the name for a group of risk factors that happen together and are related to your metabolism. Metabolism is the process your body uses to convert food into energy. Having metabolic syndrome doubles your risk of heart disease. Metabolic syndrome is more common in women than men.7 You have metabolic syndrome if you have any three of these five risk factors:
If you have metabolic syndrome, you can take steps to control your risk factors. Your doctor will do cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood glucose tests regularly to find out your risk for metabolic syndrome.
Learn more about metabolic syndrome.
Excessive, or extra, blood clotting is when blood clots form too easily or break apart too slowly. Blood clots can narrow arteries and veins or block blood flow completely. This can lead to heart attack, stroke, or damage to the kidneys, lungs, or other parts of the body.
Women of childbearing age (between 15 and 44) are at higher risk of blood clots than men of the same age. Your family health history, pregnancy, and certain medicines can cause excessive blood clotting. Medicines with the hormone estrogen, such as hormonal birth control or menopausal hormone therapy, can raise your risk for blood clots. Healthy everyday habits like healthy eating and physical activity can make clots less likely to form. Some people with excessive blood clotting may also need medicine to prevent clots.
Learn more about excessive blood clotting.
Lupus and rheumatoid arthritis are health problems that affect more women than men. Lupus and rheumatoid arthritis are autoimmune disorders. This means that they cause your immune system to attack the tissues and organs in your body, rather than just fighting off infections. Sometimes your heart and blood vessels are the tissues and organs that are attacked.
Treating your lupus or rheumatoid arthritis can lower your risk of heart disease.
Read more about lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.
Depression affects twice as many women as men. Also, research found that women 55 and younger who are depressed are twice as likely to have a heart attack or to die of heart disease as women who are not depressed. Depression also increases your risk for another heart attack if you've had one already. Depression can hurt your heart's ability to beat correctly. It also can speed up the buildup of plaque in your arteries.
Most people with depression get better with treatment, which may include therapy and medicine. Treating your depression can help lower your risk for heart disease. Learn more at our depression page, and read more about the link between depression and heart disease.
Loud snoring is often a sign of sleep apnea (AP-nee-uh). Sleep apnea is a common sleep disorder in which you have one or more pauses in breathing or shallow breaths while you sleep.
Sleep apnea is linked to atrial fibrillation (irregular heartbeat). Sleep apnea also may affect more than half of people with heart disease.
With obstructive sleep apnea, the most common type, the tissue in the back of the throat relaxes. This blocks airflow to your lungs and lowers the oxygen level in your blood. Your heart must work harder to pump blood through your body. This raises your risk for high blood pressure, heart attack, and stroke.
Women with sleep apnea may have different symptoms than men. The most common symptom of sleep apnea in men is loud snoring. While women may also have snoring, they may have insomnia, morning headaches, or sleepiness instead. These symptoms can be mistaken for other health problems.
If you think you might have sleep apnea, talk to your doctor. Treating sleep apnea with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) can lower high blood pressure in people with sleep apnea.
C-reactive protein (CRP) is made by the body and released into the blood in response to swelling. Swelling (or inflammation) is how your body reacts to heal infections or cuts. Swelling can also happen over time in response to high stress levels or poor eating habits. Swelling for infections or cuts will raise your CRP levels for a short time, but swelling that continues for a long time may mean your arteries are damaged, which puts you at risk for heart disease.
If you are at borderline risk for heart disease, your doctor might test your blood for your CRP levels to use as a "tiebreaker." Your doctor may have to do this test several times to monitor your CRP levels. High CRP levels over several tests means that your risk of heart attack to about two to three times higher than people with low CRP levels. Women usually have higher CRP levels than men. Also, Hispanic and African-American women often have the highest CRP levels.
Your CRP level can help your doctor decide whether you need to take steps to lower your CRP level to prevent heart disease. This may include changing your eating habits, getting more physical activity, or taking medicine to treat high blood pressure or high cholesterol.
For more information about heart disease risk factors, call the OWH Helpline at 1-800-994-9662 or check out the following resources from other organizations:
Your risk for heart disease is higher if you have certain health problems, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, or being overweight. You can lower your risk for heart disease by controlling health problems that put you at higher risk for heart disease. Being aware of these can also help your doctor decide whether to suggest other treatments, such as taking medicine.
Some factors you can't control, like pregnancy and menopause, can raise your risk for heart disease. Learn what you can do to offset that risk.
As you get older, your risk of heart disease and heart attack goes up.
Many women take menopausal hormone therapy to help relieve menopause symptoms such as hot flashes. Results from a large study called the Women's Health Initiative showed that women taking menopausal hormone therapy with estrogen plus progesterone had a higher risk for stroke, serious blood clots, heart attacks, and other serious health problems. The risks were found to be much higher for women 60 years and older.
If you decide to use menopausal hormone therapy, talk to your doctor. The Food and Drug Administration advises women who want to try menopausal hormone therapy to use the lowest dose that works for the shortest time needed.
Read more about menopausal symptoms and hormone therapy in our Menopause section.
Your family history can raise your risk for heart disease:
A family history of heart disease does not always mean that you will have it too. This is especially true if your family member who had heart disease smoked or had other heart disease risk factors, such as high blood pressure or high cholesterol, that were not under control.
If heart disease runs in your family, it may be because your family carries genes that raise your risk. An example would be a gene that makes your blood more likely to clot. Talk to your doctor about your family health history.
African-American and American Indian and Alaska Native women are more likely to have heart disease than white, Hispanic, and Asian-American women. But heart disease is still the number one killer of white and African-American women.
Learn more about these pregnancy complications in our Pregnancy section.
You don't need to become a super athlete or go on a very strict diet to protect your heart and lower your risk for heart disease. Every woman can take steps every day toward a more heart-healthy lifestyle. And the best part is that being more heart-healthy also lowers your risk for other diseases like cancer and diabetes.
Get moving
For the most health benefits, you need to get enough aerobic activity to get your heart pumping and do muscle-strengthening activities every week. (Always check with your doctor before starting any regular exercise you are not used to doing.)
You should get at least 30 minutes a day of moderate-intensity aerobic activity, like brisk walking, on most days of the week. The 30 minutes of heart-pumping activity don't have to be all at one time. You can break it up into 10-minute activities throughout the day.
Do the following each week:
Aerobic activity:
Muscle-strengthening activity:
Learn more about how to be active for health.
Making unhealthy food choices can lead to weight gain. But that is not the only risk. Unhealthy eating affects your arteries, blood pressure, glucose level, and many other parts of your heart health. Talk to your doctor or nurse about a heart-healthy eating plan that lowers your risk of heart attack and stroke.
Reaching and staying at a healthy weight will lower your risk of heart disease and stroke. If you already have heart disease, a healthy weight will help you control your disease and prevent heart attack. A slow and steady weight loss is the best way to lose weight and keep it off. Talk to your doctor about how much weight you need to lose and the best ways to do it.
Learn more in our Fitness and Nutrition section.
Ask your doctor to check your blood pressure, cholesterol (total, HDL, LDL, and triglycerides) and blood sugar levels. Under the Affordable Care Act, most insurance plans must cover these tests at no cost to you. These tests will give you important information about your heart health. Your doctor can tell you what your numbers mean and what you need to do to protect your heart.
All women need to know the symptoms of heart attack and stroke and what to do. Make sure your friends and loved ones know how to recognize the symptoms too. If you think you are having a heart attack or stroke, call 911.
Knowing the symptoms and getting help quickly can help you survive a heart attack or stroke and make a full recovery.
If you smoke, get the help you need to quit. Start by visiting Women.Smokefree.gov for woman-specific information, tips, and tools.
If you drink alcohol, do so in moderation. For women, this means no more than one drink per day.
"One drink" is:
If you don't already drink, don't start drinking for health reasons. Moderate drinking is also linked to breast cancer, violence, and injuries. No amount of alcohol is safe during pregnancy.
Stress, anxiety, depression, and lack of sleep can raise your risk for heart disease. Take care of yourself with these steps:
For more information about heart disease prevention, call the OWH Helpline at 1-800-994-9662 or check out the following resources from other organizations:
It can take months for your heart to heal from the damage caused by a heart attack or other heart problem. Your doctor will talk to you about steps you can take to help you recover, including making healthy changes and joining a cardiac rehabilitation program. This can also lower your chances of having another heart attack or heart problem.
Your goals for heart attack or heart surgery recovery depend on how badly your heart was damaged. Work with your doctor to set short- and long-term goals for your recovery:
Cardiac rehabilitation (rehab) is a medically supervised program to help you recover from a heart attack or heart surgery. Under the Affordable Care Act, most insurance plans must cover cardiac rehab programs, although you will need to pay your usual copay or coinsurance, and meet your deductible. Cardiac rehabilitation also helps lower your chances of having another heart attack or heart problem.
Studies show that women may do worse than men after a heart attack. Women may also be more likely than men to feel stress, depression, or anxiety after a heart attack. This can make it harder for your heart to heal. People who take part in cardiac rehab programs may improve their heart health and lower their chances of a future heart problem. However, women, especially older women and minority women, may be less likely than men to join or complete a cardiac rehabilitation program.
During cardiac rehabilitation, you will do exercises to improve your heart health and will learn about healthy changes you can make at home. You may also get brief counseling for stress and to help control other health problems that raise your risk for heart disease, such as smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes.
Cardiac rehabilitation can be expensive, but the Affordable Care Act requires that most insurance plans, including Medicare Part B, cover most or all of the cost of cardiac rehabilitation programs.
Learn more about cardiac rehabilitation.
Once you've had a heart attack, you are at high risk of having another heart attack. As you recover from your heart attack or other heart problem, take steps to prevent it from happening again:
Learn more about ways to prevent another heart attack or heart problem.
For more information about recovering from a heart attack or surgery, call the OWH Helpline at 1-800-994-9662 or check out the following resources from other organizations:
Learn more about heart disease from the Office on Women's Health and other websites.
Heart disease and women (PDF, 129 KB)
The Office on Women's Health is grateful for the medical review 2015 by:
All material contained on these pages are free of copyright restrictions and may be copied, reproduced, or duplicated without permission of the Office on Women’s Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Citation of the source is appreciated.
Heart disease and women (PDF, 129 KB)
Page last updated: April 26, 2018.
Source: Office on Women’s Health, HHS