Women With Diabetes 6 Times More at Risk of Heart Attack
Women under 45-years-old with diabetes have a 6-fold increased risk of heart attack, according to a recent study.
“Coronary artery disease (CAD) mainly affects elderly people, but also more and more young people get sick. It is estimated that every 20th person with CAD is under the age of 45, and only 20% of them are women. The literature concerning this matter is rather limited,” explained the study’s authors.
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For the study, researchers evaluated 1941 women (45 years of age or younger) with a history of myocardial infarction (MI) who were hospitalized in Polish facilities between 2007 and 2014. Researchers compared the young women to a group of 1170 female controls who did not have a history of MI and 4275 older women (63-64 years) with history of MI.
Researchers discovered that the young women with a history of MI were significantly more likely to be obese (22.3% vs. 15.3%) or smokers (48.7 % vs. 40%) and have hypertension (48.8% vs. 40.0%), diabetes mellitus (10.6% vs. 1.4%), or hypercholesterolemia (31.6% vs. 12.5%).
Overall, diabetes was the strongest independent predictor of MI, increasing the risk by 6-fold. Hypertension increased the risk by 4-fold, hypercholesterolemia by 3-fold, and smoking by 1.6-fold. Obesity was not associated with a statistically significant increase in MI risk.
Compared with the older group with a history of MI, the only risk factor with a significantly greater prevalence in the younger group was being a smoker, (48.7% of the younger women and 22.2% of the older women).
The complete study was presented at the August 2015 European Society of Cardiology Congress.
-Michelle Canales Butcher
Reference:
Beckowski M, Polonski L, Gierlotka M, et al. The cardiovascular disease risk factor profile in a young woman (under the age of 45) with acute coronary syndrome. Paper Presented at: 2015 ESC Congress; August 2015; London, UK.