Heart disease kills more women than breast cancer

Washington

HIGH CHOLESTEROL, a risk factor for heart disease, affects nearly one in five American women who are at least 40 years old. Although heart disease is the No 1 cause of death in women, there is little agreement on what to do about managing cholesterol.

A recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report found that 17.7 per cent of women aged 40 to 59 had high cholesterol, as did 17. 2 per cent of those 60 and older. That's a higher percentage than men in the middle-age cohort (16.5 per cent) and dramatically higher than men in the older cohort (6.9 per cent).