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Shocking Heart Facts: Women And Heart Disease

Written By: Adam Pick, Patient Advocate, Author & Website Founder
Page Last Updated: May 17, 2026

I was just reading a rather frightening article about women, cardiologists and heart disease at the Dayton Daily News.

I was shocked to read a few statistics about the the incredibly large number of women that have cardiovascular disease. Furthermore, the annual mortality rate from heart disease was equally disturbing.

Chart Of Leading Causes Of Death For Women

Here are the statistics that forced me to do a double-take:

42.7 million United States women have cardiovascular disease
459,096 women died of heart disease in 2004

According to the article women with heart disease outnumber men in both measures of the disease which costs $448.5 billion a year — $296.4 billion for medical care and $152.1 billion in lost productivity. As you can see from the chart above, Associated Content suggests that stroke, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and breast cancer are the other critical medical challenges for women.

Written by Adam Pick - Patient & Website Founder

Adam Pick is a heart valve patient and author of The Patient's Guide To Heart Valve Surgery. In 2006, Adam founded HeartValveSurgery.com to educate and empower patients. This award-winning website has helped over 10 million people fight heart valve disease. Adam has been featured by the American Heart Association and Medical News Today.

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