Women’s risk factors

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Know your risks

As women, we face unique risk factors for heart disease and stroke at different points in our lives.

 

A risk factor is something that increases your likelihood of developing a condition or disease. While aging increases risk for heart disease and stroke, women face unique risk factors at every life stage. Knowing your risks is the first step in managing them.

Women’s life stages and risk factors

Estrogen’s protective effect on women’s heart and brain health fluctuates at different life stages, resulting in unique risk factors.

Reproductive years

Hormonal contraceptives, fertility treatments and pregnancy-related disorders such as high blood pressure or gestational diabetes can affect a woman’s risk.
Heart disease survivor Carissa
Heart disease survivor Carissa
Reproductive years
Hormonal contraceptives, fertility treatments and pregnancy-related disorders such as high blood pressure or gestational diabetes can affect a woman’s risk.
Learn more

Menopause

As women transition to peri-menopause and menopause, estrogen production lessens, increasing their risk for heart disease and stroke.
Heart disease survivor Christina Stuwe
Heart disease survivor Christina Stuwe
Menopause
As women transition to peri-menopause and menopause, estrogen production lessens, increasing their risk for heart disease and stroke.
Learn more

Post-menopause

After menopause, the protective factors associated with estrogen are gone. This happens along with the natural aging process – and advancing age is also a risk factor.
Stroke survivor Lynne Marie Sherry
Stroke survivor Lynne Marie Sherry
Post-menopause
After menopause, the protective factors associated with estrogen are gone. This happens along with the natural aging process – and advancing age is also a risk factor.
Learn more

Sex and gender are complementary concepts, but they are not interchangeable. Sex describes biology, such as hormones and chromosomes, while gender describes people’s lived experience, socially constructed roles, expectations and self-identification. Both impact women’s health including risks for heart and brain health. 

 

#1
cause of premature death of women in Canada is heart disease and stroke
89%
of women are unaware of their unique risk factors
     ↗
High blood pressure markedly increases in severity in women as they age.

 

 

Take the next step

Assessing your risks and having discussions with your healthcare providers, and family and friends will help you get the support and care you need.
Here's how

Take action

You can manage your risk factors, reduce your risk for heart disease and stroke and help improve health outcomes for other women.
Learn how

Some women experience greater health inequities. Here’s a closer look.

Women’s risk factors

Women’s stories

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More ways to protect women’s hearts and brain health

Our strategy

Heart disease and stroke is the #1 cause of premature death in women in Canada. We’re changing that.

The research

2/3 of heart disease and stroke clinical research has focused on men. Not anymore.