Women are 14 times more likely to die from cardiovascular disease than from breast cancer.

Most physicians and patients still think that less women and men die from cardiovascular disease. Only 15% of physicians and only 8% of women consider heart attack as the women's greatest risk. This lack of awareness is major contributing factor to the increasing morality trend in women.

Since 1999, more women died from cardiovascular disease than men and this trend may accelerate.

Above are some heart facts women need to know to protect themselves. Fortunately, heart attack and stroke prevention is as effective in women as in men.

Despite all the advances in medicine, women's risk remains underestimated and under-treated. The above example shows the preventive treatment of men and women, both asymptomatic, both with identical risk factors. A woman has to wait to be over 70 before becoming eligible for same cholesterol preventive treatment as a man at 50.

This delayed preventive treatment of women is only one of three main reasons for why more women die from cardiovascular disease than men. By the time women have clinically symptomatic disease and received treatment, heart disease is more advanced than in men.

Another important difference between women and men is that women's symptoms are less likely to be the textbook-type commonly seen in men and therefore, easily missed.

In the HERS trial consisting of women with heart disease, revealed marked undertreatment of women. Only 9% of women were treated to the recommended LDL goal of less than 100 mg/dl.