Women Health Statistics

The Society for Women’s Health Research provides a wealth of health information for women and offers interesting stats on gender differences. Here are some health statistics specific to females.

Heart disease s 500,000 American women each year — over 50,000 more women than men — and strikes women, on average, 10 years later than men. Women are more likely than men to have a second heart attack within a year of the first one.
According to the American Heart Association’s 2004 statistic report, approximately 40,000 more women, compared to men, suffer from a stroke.

Women comprise 80 percent of the population suffering from osteoporosis. Osteoporosis-related fractures are a main cause of disability and in the United States.
In the United States, diabetes is the fifth leading cause of for women, while diabetes is the sixth leading cause of of the general population.
Three out of four people suffering from autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and lupus, are women. Autoimmune diseases are in the top 10 leading causes of s (age 65 and younger) and are the fourth largest cause of disability among US women.

Women are two times more likely than men to contract a sexually transmitted infection. HIV is among the top 10 leading causes of for all US women aged 25-54 and is the number 1 leading cause of for African American women aged 25-34.
Many chronic pain conditions are more common in women, such as rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, migraine, and osteoarthritis (after age 45). Women generally show greater sensitivity to pain than men do.
In a study to determine the medical risks of women who drink alcohol, researchers found that women who consume more than two alcoholic drinks per day were more likely to develop breast cancer, hypertension and stroke than non-drinkers.

Data from research published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry suggest that depression affects women two to three times more than males. Further research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that while equal numbers of girls and boys experience depression prior to turning 13 years old, more females over the age of 13 were found to become depressed.