Study: Women remain at higher risk of dying or developing heart failure after a heart attack Women face a 20 per cent higher risk than men of dying or having heart failure during the five years following a heart attack, according to a new study from University of Alberta cardiology researchers. The women were on average a decade older than men at the time of their first heart attack and they more commonly presented with the less severe type of heart attack. But when they were faced with the more severe type of heart attack, they did develop heart failure more often."