How to Make Sure the Beat Goes On

Abstract

Heart disease remains the leading killer of women in the United States, although fewer than half of US women know it. Despite progress, American women are 6 times more likely to die of heart disease than of breast cancer, and heart disease kills more women over age 65 than all cancers combined. The most common form of heart disease, coronary heart disease, results from atherosclerosis, or the accumulation of fatty plaques in artery walls that causes arteries to narrow. If a blood clot or plaque rupture blocks a narrowed artery leading to the heart, it can cause a heart attack. Several factors are known to increase the risk for heart disease. The more risk factors a woman has, the greater her risk of a heart attack. Some risk factors cannot be controlled, such as increasing age and a family history of heart disease. Women with a father or brother who developed heart disease before age 55 or a mother or sister who developed heart disease before age 65 are at increased risk. Race is also a factor, with black women being more likely than white women to develop heart disease. However, the majority of factors that contribute to heart disease, including smoking, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and high blood sugar, can be controlled or modified by making simple changes in your lifestyle and, if necessary, taking certain medicines. Using a tool developed by investigators from the Framingham Heart Study, the longest-running study of heart disease, you can estimate whether your chance of having a heart attack or dying of heart disease during the next 10 years is “high,” “intermediate,” or “low” (see Table 1 or go to http://hin.nhlbi.nih.gov/atpiii/calculator.asp or http://www. nhlbi.nih.gov/about/framingham/ riskabs.htm). You receive points on the basis of your age, total cholesterol level, high-density lipoprotein (“good”) cholesterol level, …