The primary risk factors for heart disease are cigarette smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and lack of exercise. Compared with nonsmokers of the same age, women who smoke have 2 to 10 times the risk of heart disease.

Diabetes is a especially significant risk factor in women. Studies have shown that, compared with men, at the same level of glucose intolerance, women have about twice the risk of heart disease.

Researches remain divided on the question of whether exercise is protective in its own right or works by favorably influencing the other primary risk factors. It is associated with lower rate of heart disease at any age regardless of the mechanism. It is found that it was particularly protective in women and after age 75. Women who were at least 75 years old, who said they exercised three or more times every week were 70% less likely to die over a five-year period than women who did not exercise much.