[excerpt] Heart disease is the number one killer of women over the age of 25 according to the American Heart Association, but heart disease begins to develop at a young age and many women are unaware that it is a significant threat to their health.
In a recent study done by the AHA, only 20 percent of women said they view heart disease as their greatest personal health problem. Many women consider other medical problems such as breast cancer a greater threat than heart disease, but only one in every 29 women dies from breast cancer, while one in every 2.4 women dies from heart disease, stroke or another cardiovascular disease.
Heart disease may not seem like a health issue that poses an immediate threat to young women, but cardiologist Daniel Osimani at Montgomery Regional Medical Center said studies have shown that heart disease begins to develop early in life.
“It starts early and it progresses throughout life,” Osimani said. “There’s a famous study from Vietnam where they did autopsies on some of the casualties of war and they looked at the coronary arteries of 18- (and) 19-year-old casualties, and already they were seeing signs of early coronary disease; more so in casualties who had a family history of heart disease.”Read the entire article. "
