26/09/2003 (Agence Europe) - On the occasion of the World Heart Day, on Sunday 28 September, Commissioner David Byrne regretted that cardiovascular diseases are the largest single cause of mortality among women. Although these diseases strike women around ten years later in life than men, 2.4 million women nonetheless die from such diseases each year in Europe. Cardiovascular diseases kill 1.94 million men annually in Europe.