Cardiovascular disease (CVD), sometimes used interchangeably with the term heart disease, encompasses a range of conditions that affect your heart, such as heart attack, stroke, heart failure, arrhythmia, and heart valve problems. It is also the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States.
The impact of CVD on women around the world is staggering. According to an American Heart Association commentary, CVD killed 385,943 women in 2017, is the leading cause of death for Black and White women in the US, is the second leading cause of death for Hispanic and Asian or Pacific Islander women, and causes the same number of deaths as cancer in American Indian and Alaskan Native women.