Risk of heart attack in men versus women

by | Heart Attacks and Strokes

So in our community, the number of women who have heart attacks is about the same as the number of men. It’s just that more men have them at a younger age.

But for example, a little known fact is that a woman in her lifetime is about seven or eight times more likely to get heart disease than to get breast cancer.

So heart disease is something that women are a little bit complacent about because you don’t read a lot about it. But in fact, there’s a 40 per cent lifetime risk of a woman having a heart attack or a stroke, something that moment, not many people appreciate.

Professor David Celermajer is Scandrett Professor of Cardiology and Head of Cardiology at the University of Sydney.