Sex Differences in Health: Evidence and Explanations 347SIDEBAR 10.1:Is Heart Disease Only for Men?
Cardiovascular disease is the top-most leading cause of death in the United States. In 2006,
831,272 people died from heart disease, and heart disease accounted for 34% of the deaths in the
United States (American Heart Association, 2010). In fact, there were more deaths from heart
disease than from the next five leading causes of death combined. Death rates from heart disease
have declined since 1980, which greatly contributed to the overall increase in life expectancy.
Between 1996 and 2006, death rates have declined 29%.
Heart disease is often viewed as a disease of men. There is good reason for this. Under
age 45, White men have six times the risk of heart disease as White women, and Black men
have twice the risk of heart disease as Black women (Ho, Paultre, & Mosca, 2005). The risk
of heart disease rises with age in both women and men, but rates of heart disease occur on
average 10 years later in women (American Heart Association, 2010). Men have higher rates
of heart disease than women until age 75. However, heart disease is not limited to men. It
is the leading cause of death forbothmen and women. In fact, because women live longer
than men, more women than men ultimately die of heart disease (Rieker & Bird, 2005). The
death rate from heart disease has declined in recent years, but the decline has been greater for
men than women, greatest for White males, and least for Black females (National Institutes
of Health, 2006). In terms of absolute numbers, more women than men die from heart dis-
ease in a given year, which has been the case since 1984. This fact is due to a greater number
of women than men in the population, especially among the elderly—and heart disease is a
disease of the elderly.how society would have reacted if the two
teenagers at Columbine High School were
girls instead of boys or the college student
at Virginia Tech was female instead of male.
When women are victims, they are almost
10 times as likely to be killed by a male as
a female. However, women are almost four
times as likely to kill men as to kill women.
The female perpetrator/female victim cat-
egory is a rare one.
We often imagine murder as involving
a stranger. Many of the mass killings we hear
about in the media involve a person killing
strangers, and these accounts draw a great
deal of publicity. However, 2009 statistics
show that only 12% of victims were mur-
dered by strangers, 44% knew the perpetra-
tor, and the relationship was unknown in44% of the cases (U.S. Department of Justice,
Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2009). The
perpetrator’s relationship to the victim dif-
fers for men and women. Women are more
likely than men to be killed by someone they
know across all age groups.
Although men are more likely than
women to be victims of violence, the asso-
ciation of violence with poor health seems to
be stronger for women than men (Sundaram
et al., 2004). In a national survey in Den-
mark, a history of violence was more strongly
associated with self-ratings of poor health,
anxiety, depression, and stomach problems
in women than men. This may be due to the
fact that violence is more likely to take place
in the context of relationships for women
compared to men.M10_HELG0185_04_SE_C10.indd 347 6/21/11 8:54 AM