Coronary heart disease (CHD) accounts for over a quarter of deaths in Brita
in, yet few qualitative studies have explored beliefs about 'heart problems
' in the general population. A previous study of lay beliefs about coronary
candidacy (or 'the kind of person who gets heart trouble') paid little att
ention to gender. However, semi-structured interviews with 61 men and women
reveal that gender plays a vital role in lay perceptions. Respondents' acc
ounts of people who were likely 'candidates' for heart problems all centred
on men. More surprisingly, their accounts of unlikely candidates also focu
sed exclusively on men. Only when specifically asked about relatives, did r
espondents discuss women with heart problems. While accounts of male 'victi
ms' focused on sudden, fatal heart attacks, accounts of women usually conce
ntrated on long-term CHD morbidity. We argue that CHD continues to be perce
ived as a male disease and that women remain 'invisible' in discourses abou
t heart disease.