Nearly 500,000 women die each year of heart and blood vessel disease, compared to approximately 245,000 from all forms of cancer.
Heart disease accounts for more women s deaths than cancer, diabetes and accidents combined.
Women from the Baby Boom generation today are just beginning to face the biggest threat to their lives, said William Hazzard, M.D., Professor and Chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine at the Bowman Gray School of Medicine. And many will be surprised that this threat is not cancer, but heart disease. Dr. Hazzard expressed concern that the medical and public health community had not done a good enough job educating women about this risk. Nevertheless, nearly 500,000 women die each year of heart and blood vessel disease, compared to approximately 245,000 from all forms of cancer. Several studies have demonstrated that estrogen production during the reproductive years is related to protection against coronary artery disease and heart attacks.