Heart disease has long been known as a deadly killer, that comes in a variety of forms — be it a heart attack, stroke or an assortment of other heart ailments that can be deadly. What might surprise most people, however, is with the prevalence of heart disease among women.

In the minds of many, heart disease is something only men need to be concerned about. Many people feel this way because a father, brother or husband suffered a heart attack. However, heart disease knows no gender when it strikes and actually claimed nearly 200,000 more female lives than breast cancer in the United States in 2003.

Despite the staggering numbers of female lives heart disease claims each year, a 2003 American Heart Association survey of 1,000 women revealed that only 13 percent of women in América believed that heart disease and stroke were the greatest health threat to their lives. To put that survey in another perspective, 87 percent of women were unaware of the truly dangerous waters they might be in.

Whether you’re a woman in the clear minority or overwhelming majority with respect to knowledge about heart disease, consider the following risk factors and be sure to consult a physician.

- Your risk gets greater as you get older. Though heart disease and stroke can strike at any time, the risk gets significantly greater as a person ages. In 2003 alone there were over 45 million women were over the age of 50, meaning a significant portion of the female population was in a high-risk age group.

- Type 2 diabetes puts more women at risk than men. Type 2 diabetes is a strong contributing risk for heart disease in women, more so than it is for men. This heightens the importance of maintaining a healthy weight and a regular exercise regimen for women, as both of these greatly reduce a person’s risk of contracting type 2 diabetes.

- Cholesterol levels affect women, too. Another common misperception is that cholesterol is something only men need to be concerned about. Not true, says the American Heart Association. In fact, low levels of HDL (high density lipoprotein, commonly referred to as “good” cholesterol) are a stronger predictor of death in women than in men. That suggests that regular visits to your physician to get your cholesterol levels checked are actually more ...