cardiac risk factors

Breast cancer survivors have fewer heart attacks

Breast cancer survivors appear to be one-third less likely to have a heart attack than other women report researchers from the University of Chicago in the July 2003, issue of Cancer. This reduction was most apparent in women with risk factors for heart disease, the leading cause of death in older women.

Sudden death not surprising in many women

Most women who die from an abrupt loss of heart function (called sudden cardiac death) have no prior history of heart disease. However, 94 percent of these women have at least one cardiac risk factor such as smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes or obesity, according to a report in today’s rapid access issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.