New research for the Irish Heart Foundation shows poor awareness among women about their risk of heart disease.
Just half of women recognise the symptoms of heart disease and stroke.
The research shows that 28% of women have never had a heart health check.
The study was conducted among 1,056 respondents by Ipsos.
One in four women die from heart disease and stroke.
The Irish Heart Foundation said society needs to confront the embedded myth that heart disease is a male disease.
The research shows that 70% of the public believe females are more likely to contract breast cancer than heart disease and stroke - despite statistics showing they are six times more likely to die from both conditions.
Dr Angie Brown, consultant cardiologist and Medical Director with the Irish Heart Foundation, said the perception is quite different to the reality that one in four women dies from heart disease and stroke.
She said women are six times more likely to die from heart disease and stroke than they are from breast cancer, so a significant gap in awareness of the symptoms has opened up.
She also said the symptoms for women are often different from men.
The IHF is running a campaign 'Her Heart Matters' during September to raise awareness.
'I am here, I am alive, I am healthy'
In June 2021, Melaine Enright from Delgany, Co Wicklow had returned from a long walk with a friend She felt unwell and decided to go to bed, thinking she had had overdone it on the walk.
During the night she woke a few times with a sensation in her shoulder but no pain.
Thinking she had pulled her shoulder, she drove herself to an emergency department the next day for a check.
Melanie is 51-years-old, very active and lives in Delgany with her husband and two teenage daughters.
She felt very unwell walking to the emergency department and realised something was seriously wrong.
After being triaged, evaluated and scanned, doctors at St Vincent's University Hospital in Dublin arranged for her to be brought by ambulance to St James's Hospital.
She had suffered a major heart attack and needed stents to be put in.
Melanie said that it took a long time to recover and she was very tired and weak for a considerable period.
She says the life-changing event also made her anxious about her health.
"On the flip side, I am here, I am alive, I am healthy and I still have so much ahead of me," she adds.
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