Smoking, diabetes and high blood pressure raise the risk of a heart attack more in women than in men, says a latest research.
“Overall, more men experience heart attacks than women. However, several major risk factors increase the risk in women more than they increase the risk in men, so women with these factors experience a relative disadvantage,” researcher Dr Elizabeth Millett explained about The George Institute for Global Health study on Thursday.
The study, involving more than 470,000 participants aged 40-69, found that smoking, diabetes, high blood pressure and overweight put both men and women at increased risk of a heart attack, according to the institute.
But while male smokers had over twice the risk of a heart attack than men who never smoked, female smokers were found to have over three times the risk of women who never smoked. Such “excess risk” was also found among women with high blood pressure, and Type I and Type II diabetes, reported the institute.
The researchers also looked at heart attack risk associated with ageing.
The increase in risk posed by factors such as smoking and high blood pressure lessened in both sexes as they grew older, but the additional excess risk experienced by women was found to persist with ageing. The latest findings were published in the British Medical Journal, reports China based news agency Xinhua.
“These findings highlight the importance of raising awareness around the risk of heart attack women face, and ensuring that women as well as men have access to guideline-based treatments for diabetes and high blood pressure, and to resources to help them stop smoking,” said Millett.