Why heart disease is on the rise among younger women

·51 min·3 clips

Jessica went into heart failure at 29 weeks and later learned she had scarring from a prior heart attack.

The program begins by framing a new heart-disease study around women who go through menopause before age 40. The host notes that this group has 40% more fatal and non-fatal heart attacks over the course of their lifetimes than women who do not go through early menopause. From there, the conversation widens to a larger awareness problem. Surveys show that many young women still think heart disease belongs to older people, and especially to older men. The show treats that misconception as part of the broader awareness gap. It points to the rising prevalence and deadliness of heart disease among younger women. The host also references reporting that places heart disease as the leading killer of cisgender American women. That sets up the episode as both a public-health warning and a practical discussion. The tone stays grounded in context. Guests are given room to explain how heart risk can show up in women whose symptoms or histories may not fit the old stereotype. A patient story, Jessica Driffl’s, gives the subject a lived edge. The show then turns toward pregnancy-related heart concerns, including peripartum cardiomyopathy. The clinicians walk through how a case is evaluated when symptoms arise during pregnancy. They also make clear that prenatal care can be an important screening point. Blood pressure checks at every OB visit are presented as routine but meaningful. Healthy weight gain, exercise, and nutrition come up as part of the same preventive picture. The conversation also points to preconception counseling for women who are considering pregnancy. The episode does not present screening as a cure-all. It treats it as a way to get ahead of problems earlier. The guests explain that obstetric care often provides repeated check-ins that can catch risk factors a person might otherwise miss. That is one of the episode’s strongest threads. It links a broad awareness gap to a concrete clinical response. The show also makes room for the limits of what can be known in advance. That keeps the discussion honest without becoming bleak. By the end, the hour has moved from a headline study to a fuller map of how women’s heart health is discussed, screened, and sometimes missed. It leaves the listener with a better sense of where the warning signs can hide and where the system has a chance to catch them.

As heard by us

A steady, useful reminder that women’s heart health needs attention earlier than many people assume.

This hour pulls heart disease out of the old older-man cliché and puts it where it belongs: around younger women, premature menopause, pregnancy risk, and the gap between evidence and awareness.

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Why you'd press play

You want an expert-guided look at how heart disease is being reframed for younger women.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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