Ignoring the warning signs of heart disease can be fatal. The medical term for heart attack is myocardial infarction. If the blood supply is cut off severely or for a long time, muscle cells suffer irreversible injury and die. Disability or death can result, depending on how much the heart muscle has been damaged . At older ages, women who have heart attacks are twice as likely as men are to die from them within a few weeks.
Men have a greater risk of heart attack than women, and they have attacks earlier in life.
Even after menopause, when women's death rate from heart disease increases, it's not as great as men's. African Americans have more severe hypertension than Caucasians. Consequently, their risk of heart disease is greater. Both of these conditions contribute to heart disease. Smoking also causes lung damage, which in turn may cause heart damage.