It's not just for men...

Women & heart attacks – British Heart Foundation
http://www.bhf.org.uk/doubtkills/what_to_look_out_for/women__heart_attacks.aspx

Coronary Heart Disease - it's not just for men...

In general, women don't believe they'll get coronary heart disease. They tend to see it as a disease for men. At the same time, women have a heightened awareness of their risk of developing breast cancer.

Yet heart disease and disease of the blood vessels together claim twice as many women’s lives as all forms of cancer. In 2004, CHD was responsible for the deaths of 47,287 women, compared to 12,338 deaths from breast cancer.

So why don't women see heart disease as an issue for them? Very often men, rather than women, are often portrayed in the media as the victims of heart attack.

Female celebrities who develop breast cancer also often dominate women’s health media, giving an impression that women are at more risk from breast cancer than heart disease.

Yet statistically, women are four times more likely to die from a heart problem than from breast cancer.

Women also believe that their female hormones provide them with protection against heart disease. It's true that pre-menopausal women have some protection against heart disease, but does not mean they are immune from it.

Women who smoke, or those who are very overweight, will increase their risk of heart attack no matter what their age.

Women can also experience different symptoms to men. They're less likely to display the 'classic' symptoms of angina and heart attacks than men.

Therefore, women often don’t recognise the symptoms of a heart attack as easily as men, and often arrive at hospital too late for vital treatment that can protect the heart from further damage.

It was previously thought that Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) provided some protection against heart disease in menopausal women. But research now shows this is not the case. It should not be prescribed solely to reduce a woman’s risk of developing heart disease.

Every man and woman over 40 should do their cholesterol test every 6 months, or just reduce your risk of developing coronary heart disease, by using BiosLife everday.