ABSTRACT

Myocardial infarction is the most common cause of death among women and men in Sweden as in the rest of the world. A 50-year-old woman has a 46% risk of contracting coronary heart disease (CHD) in the remaining years of her life and a 31% risk of dying of CHD. The incidence of and the risk of dying from breast cancer over the same time period are 10% and 3%, respectively, whereas the risk of experiencing a hip fracture is 15% and the risk of dying as a consequence thereof is 1.5% (Grady et al., 1992). Although CHD may be termed a disease of older woman, men are usually affected in middle age.