Impact of CVD Risk Factors Higher in Women and Blacks, Study

Researchers have found that the impact of major cardiovascular risk factors combined is higher in women than in men and in blacks than in whites.

In the study, led by the American Heart Association, researchers looked at the population attributable risk (PAR) changes in five major modifiable cardiovascular risk factors that included high cholesterol, smoking, high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes. 

PAR is a measure that takes into account how common a risk factor is and by how much the factors increases the risk of future cardiovascular diseases. On analyzing the data, the researchers noticed that when compared to men women face a higher risk and in comparison to whites, blacks are at a greater risk. However, the gender gap is reducing but there is a rise in the difference by race.

"We've been targeting traditional risk factors in public health campaigns for many years," said Susan Cheng, M.D., M.P.H., study lead author and Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Mass. "We wanted to take a look at how well we've been doing over time at keeping these risk factors from causing heart and vascular disease -- both by preventing the risks from occurring and by minimizing their effects when they do occur."

The study included 13, 541 people in which 56 percent were women and 26 percent were black. They were part of the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study. During the four period study, the participants attended examinations (when they were between 42-66 years old and free of cardiovascular disease). During these exams, the researchers assessed the risk factors and calculated the contribution of each risk of developing cardiovascular disease over the next 10 years.

They noticed that the combined PAR for five major risk factors dropped in whites and remained same in blacks. When compared to men, the contribution of diabetes and high blood pressure to cardiovascular disease was higher in women. Contribution of obesity stayed at the same level.

"Our results don't suggest that a risk factor like smoking has become any less dangerous, but that fewer people are smoking," Cheng said. "In fact, for current smokers the risk of heart and vascular disease has actually gone up, possibly because remaining smokers tend to smoke more heavily or carry additional risk factors."

The study was documented in journal Circulation.