Asked what they fear most in a recent survey on health concerns, the number one response for women was breast cancer, even though heart attack, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases kill more than 10 times as many women every year. Diseases with strong political lobbies such as breast cancer and HIV/AIDS receive a large amount of public attention, which can lead to some misperceptions regarding women’s health risks. A recent study revealed that a disproportionately large share of U.S. federal research dollars is spent on diseases such as breast cancer and HIV/AIDS in relation to the actual toll they take on public health. While these diseases and conditions are of great concern, others that are just as much or even more of a threat to women deserve attention.

Some Fast Facts

• More women die from heart disease each year than from breast, ovarian, and uterine cancer combined.
  
• Heart disease is the number one cause of mortality in women, killing more women than men each year.
  
• In 1998, approximately 61,000 menand 97,000 women died of stroke. 3
  
• HIV/AIDS is the fifth leading killer of women aged 25-44. 3
  
• Lung cancer is the leading cancer killer of women, taking the lives of approximately 63,000 women each year. 3 Given the same level of lifetime exposure to cigarette smoke, the risk for developing lung cancer is 20 to 70 percent higher in women than men.
  
• Colorectal cancer is the third leading cause of cancer deaths in women, killing almost 30,000 women each year. 3

Leading Causes of Mortality of Women in the U.S.

Sources:
Poll conducted by Discovery Health Media by the Polling Firm of Penn, Schoen & Berland, cited in Newsweek, Aug. 2 1999

C.P. Gross, et al. New Engl J Med 1999 340(24):1881-1886

National Vital Statistics Report, Vol 48, No. 11, July 24, 2000

E.A. Zang, et al. J Nat Cancer Inst 1996 88:183-192

Last updated: August 6, 2004