While the statistic that one in eight women will develop breast cancer during their lifetime is well-known, medical researchers have been unable to offer statistics on heart disease until recently. The risk of developing heart disease for those age 40 and older is one in two for men and one in three for women in the United States, Dr. Donald M. Lloyd-Jones of the Framingham Heart Study and colleagues report in the January 9 Lancet.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for adults worldwide, researchers note.
While she has a 31 percent risk of heart disease, she has an 11 percent chance of getting breast cancer. Researchers examined data collected on 7,733 participants in the renowned Framingham Heart Study, one of the oldest epidemiological studies in the world. Participants were between ages of 40 and 94 and free of heart disease. After many years of follow-up study, the researchers determined how many participants developed angina pectoris, unstable angina pectoris, suffered a heart attack, or died from coronary heart disease. Most participants in the study were white.