MINOCQUA - Heart disease kills more Americans than any other single cause.

A new study shows women are more likely to die in the hospital right after a heart attack than men.

Women don’t get that classic chest pain radiating throughout their body.

They might not think they’re having a heart attack.

If you think you've had a heart attack, you should go to a hospital in two hours.

Some patients wait weeks.

"When women who are diagnosed with heart disease tend to have increased complications because they tend to present with more advance disease compared to men," said Marshfield Clinic Cardiologist, Dr. Michael McGill.

"They also have more comorbid complications such as diabetes and hypertension and in addition will have a higher risk for congestive heart failure."

McGill says that all of that will increases the risk for treatment.

Some heart diseases are genetic.

Exercise and eating properly are things you can do to reduce the risk, but there's one more thing you should really pay attention to.

"Probably most important to take a look at your cholesterol to see if there's any genetic components that predispose you to have high bad cholesterol or low good cholesterol," McGill said.

"Both are which risk factors of poor heart disease."

The older a woman gets, the more likely she is to get heart disease.

Women of all ages should be concerned about it.

Story By: Shardaa Gray