"Heart Ailment Seems Under-recognized in Women"
"Compared to men, women with a hereditary heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy are substantially more likely to be diagnosed later in life and with more severe symptoms, an Italian study indicates. This occurs despite the fact that hypertrophic cardiomyopathy "should theoretically be present in males and females equally," Dr. Iacopo Olivotto commented to Reuters Health, because it is a genetic disease with an inheritance pattern that requires only one parent to have the condition. People with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) suffer from progressive weakening of the heart, which becomes enlarged in an attempt to compensate."
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_26562.html