The rate increases to one in four women over the age of 65. The reason for women's 10-year lag behind men, explains Jeffrey R. Witt, M.D., a cardiologist at Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg, Florida, is that estrogen, a female hormone, protects a woman until she reaches menopause. After menopause, her natural estrogen supply diminishes, decreasing the body's level of HDL or good cholesterol and increasing LDL or bad cholesterol levels. Adding to that is the fact that as women age they become more likely to develop unhealthy habits such as gaining excess weight and exercising less often than they used to. According to Kathleen Magness, M.D., a cardiologist who practices at Phoenixville Hospital in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, women have another strike against them.
Women tend to ignore the symptoms of a heart attack.
Men often have their wives at home who encourage them to seek treatment when they suffer the common symptoms, she explains. But husbands don't usually prompt their wives to go to the doctor. Husbands often don't believe that their wives have heart disease. A lot of women have said, 'My chest pain can't be a heart attack because men have heart attacks,' Magness says. Women are more likely to attribute the pain to the pepperoni pizza they ate last night.