This is Phoebe Zimmermann with the VOA Special English HealthReport.

Studies show that many American women believe breast cancer isthe biggest threat to their health. But more than ten times as manywomen die of cardiovascular diseases. These are diseases of theheart and blood vessels. Heart attacks and strokes are the leadingkiller of both men and women.

Breast cancer kills about forty-thousand women in the UnitedStates each year. But heart attacks and strokes kill aboutfive-hundred-thousand. In fact, fifteen percent more women than mendie of cardiovascular disease. Yet many people still think of itmainly affecting men.

The American Heart Association hasnew guidelines to help prevent heart attacks and strokes in women.It published the guidelines in Circulation: the Journal of theAmerican Heart Association.

For example, the guidelines urge women not to use hormonereplacement therapy as a way to protect the heart. Hormonereplacement is for women past the time when they can have children.But recent studies have shown that it may do more harm than good.

The guidelines also urge women to know their risk of heart attackor heart disease. They suggest that a woman talk to her doctor aboutthis beginning as young as the age of twenty.

The heart association Web site has information that can helppeople measure their level of risk. The address isamericanheart-dot-o-r-g.

Users answer some questions. They enter their age and whether ornot they smoke. They need to know the level of cholesterol in theirblood. And they need to know their blood pressure.

A total score below ten percent is considered low risk. Thismeans that a woman has less than a ten percent chance of a heartattack in the next ten years. The next level of ten to twentypercent is considered intermediate risk. More than twenty percent ishigh risk.

The heart association says those at high risk should ask theirdoctor for medicine that lowers cholesterol. Women are also urged toask for treatment if their blood pressure is one-hundred-forty overninety or higher.

The guidelines say women at intermediate or high risk shouldconsider taking an aspirin each day. Aspirin may reduce the risk ofa heart attack.

Again, the Web site is americanheart.org. Americanheart is allone word.

This VOA Special English Health Report was written by JerilynWatson. This is Phoebe Zimmermann.