United States: The health of women’s hearts responds significantly more to lifestyle elements, including diet combined with exercise and smoking addiction, as well as blood pressure measurements, according to new study research.
More about the news
According to future research presented Saturday at the American College of Cardiology meeting in Chicago, women with poor health experience heart disease risk, which is almost five times greater than women with ideal health status.
The risk of heart disease for men in good health amounts to 2.5 times compared to those with poor health status, while poor health female subjects bear 5 times the risk of heart disease compared to women with ideal health.
According to the lead researcher, Dr. Maneesh Sud, an interventional cardiologist at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center in Toronto, “For the same level of health, our study shows that the increase in risk [related to each factor] is higher in women than in men — it’s not one-size-fits-all,” US News reported.
Heart disease risk higher for women who have these unhealthy lifestyle habits:
— Elwin Sidney (@ElwinSidney) March 25, 2025
It’s long been known that certain lifestyle and health factors increase the risk of heart disease — but a new study highlights that they could affect women more than men.
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The study marks the pioneering evidence that lifestyle risks display stronger connections to heart health status in women than in men, according to research scientists.
What does the research reveal?
The investigation evaluated the relationship between eight components of heart disease, including nutrition, rest habits, physical activity, tobacco use, body shape index, blood sugar levels, cholesterol levels, and hypertension.
Between 2009 and 2017, more than 175,000 adults participated in the Ontario Health Study, which formed the basis of the research.
All the participants entered the study without existing heart disease.
Researchers created an overall risk factor profile by combining scores from separate assessments on eight risk factors, which determined the health statuses of participants as ideal or poor, they explained.
🚨 New Study: Women experience up to 5x the risk of heart disease when health factors decline, while men in similar health face only 2.5x the risk, new research finds.
— Patient Care (@PatCareOnline) March 25, 2025
📖 Read more: https://t.co/1TAI6trAzd#CVRisk #WomensHeartHealth #PrimaryCare
The evaluation of health status aligns with positive factors reaching five or negative factors exceeding three, according to research investigators.
The evaluation showed that women possess better combinations of positive risk factors and fewer negative elements than men.
People who are women but have more negative health factors experience larger increases in heart attack and stroke risks than men, sharing similar risk element profiles according to study outcomes.
Furthermore, Sud added, “We found that women tend to have better health than men, but the impact on outcomes is different,” US News reported.
“The combination of these factors has a bigger impact in women than it does in men,” he continued.