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It’s a staggering number that means we need to look at what happens to increase the risk of heart disease in women as they age.

It’s a simple connection between heart disease and menopause. Estrogen, the hormone women have an abundance before menopause, is a major protector of the heart and once that disappears, women catch up with men and even surpass them in having more heart attacks, strokes and cardiac disease.

There are 52 million women over age 50 today who should run to get prescriptions for bioidentical hormones, which would immediately drop their risk of heart disease by more than 60 percent.

Let me explain why.

When we are in our 20s and 30s, we are full of hormones. By that I mean we are full of estradiol (estrogen of youth), progesterone (the hormone that balances estrogen) and yes, even testosterone. We are full of energy, want to have sex and don’t have wrinkles. Our skin glows and weight loss is easy with diet and exercise.

Hormones are the root reason we are healthy when we are young. 

They also support our immune function so we get over a cold in 48 hours and eliminate inflammation so we don’t suffer with arthritic joints.

In our 40s, things change. We manufacture fewer hormones, ovulate irregularly and the quality diminishes until we stop making them altogether at menopause.

On the outside, wrinkles appear, midriff bulge spills over, energy drops and sleep becomes a nightmare, accompanied by hot flashes, night sweats, palpitations and, of course, anxiety.

Inside, the loss of hormones increases bad-cholesterol levels, plaque in our arteries and shortness of breath.

Complicating the picture for women is the fact that they do not experience or manifest heart disease like men.

Chest pain may not be the presenting symptom. Heart disease in women can be a nagging toothache, jaw aches, arm pain and often exhaustion and persistent cough.

Too many women who die are misdiagnosed, because studies on and treatments for heart disease have been conducted with men.

If women would learn to be unafraid of bioidentical hormones – which are manufactured to look identical to their own hormones – and take them before menopause, heart disease would claim fewer women’s lives.