ATLANTA — Better cardiac disease awareness and prevention programs that target younger women are needed, according to at least two studies presented at a prevention conference on heart disease and stroke sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In one study, risk factors for cardiac disease were common among women aged 34–64 years presenting with myocardial infarction. Of 50 such women, with a mean age of 54 years, 18% had 1–3 risk factors, 42% had 4–6 risk factors, and 40% had 7–10 risk factors, Lucia Kamm-Steigelman, Ph.D., and colleagues at Emory University, Atlanta, reported in a poster.
Risk factors included menopause (78% of patients), family history of coronary artery disease (80% of patients), previous diagnosis of coronary artery disease (38% of patients), diabetes (44% of patients), hypertension (64% of patients), hyperlipidemia (56% of patients), moderate depression (36% of patients), lack of exercise (76% of patients), body mass index over 24 kg/m
Public health and clinical prevention programs are clearly needed in this population, the investigators concluded.
Aparna Sunderam, D.O., and colleagues from the CDC analyzed data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and arrived at a similar conclusion.
Of 28,271 women under age 65 years who took part in the state-based telephone survey, 739 white women and 118 black women reported having heart disease.
Among those with reported heart disease, 44% of white women and 56% of black women had two or more risk factors for coronary heart disease, including hypertension (present in 86% of black women and 57% of white women), overweight status (recorded in 63% of black women and 33% of white women), sedentary lifestyle (reported by 50% of black women and 40% of white women), and high cholesterol (found in 53% of black women and 56% of white women).
Comprehensive risk reduction is necessary for all women, but aggressive intervention programs that target women by ethnicity and age, based on selected risk factor profiles, are also needed, according to the investigators.