Heart Disease

Heart disease is the number one killer of women in the United States. Some of the symptoms and risk factors for heart disease and heart attack are different for women than men. Your risk may also be different from other women. But every woman can take steps to prevent heart disease by knowing her risk factors and making healthy changes.

Top questions about women and heart disease

Heart disease and women

Heart attack and women

Heart disease risk factors

Heart disease prevention

Recovery steps

Heart disease resources

The Office on Women's Health is grateful for the medical review by:

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute staff
Harlan Krumholz, M.D., Cardiologist, Director, Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation, Yale University and Yale-New Haven Hospital
Rachel Dreyer, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Associate in Medicine (Cardiology), Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation, Yale University

All material contained on these pages are free of copyright restrictions and maybe copied, reproduced, or duplicated without permission of the Office on Women’s Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Citation of the source is appreciated.

Page last updated: February 17, 2021