HAVE A HEART

I always thought of heart disease as a man's thing. Any time you see a heart attack on television, for instance, it is a man.

However, cardiovascular disease happens to be the leading cause of death in the United States. 500,000 people die from it every year. But here is the kicker: more women in the United States die of heart disease than of any other cause.

Myocardial infarction, one form of this, claims the majority of these deaths. In every year since 1984, MI has killed more women than men. The mortality rate for women following a heart attack is 8% in the first month. This is more than double the rate for men. Women who do survive myocardial infarction have high risk for repeated heart attacks.

Women are also more likely to have diabetes mellitus, congestive heart failure (CHF), and hypertension prior to myocardial infarction (MI) than men.

So, ladies, don't neglect your heart in health care, assuming only the men die from heart disease.