The strengths and frailties of women with cardiovascular disease

Shakespeare and popular belief have tended to reinforce the view that females are weak. Scientific methodology applied to the field of cardiovascular disease suggests, to the contrary, that women are strong and enduring. Compared to males, females live at least 4 years longer, develop ischemic heart disease about 10 years later, require more risk factors before manifesting heart disease5, are less subject to sudden cardiac death6, and appear to have a more favorable outcome after the onset of heart failure.