High risk of CVD diseases in men than women, finds study

CHENNAI: The risk of cardiovascular diseases is comparatively higher in men than women, states PURE study, which was recently published in Lancet. The follow up study of 1,55,724 individuals highlighted that the risk factors for cardiovascular disease are basically the same in high, middle, and low-income countries including India.

The study titled ‘Metabolic, behavioural, and psychosocial risk factors and cardiovascular disease in women compared with men in 21 high-income, middle-income, and low-income countries: an analysis of the PURE study’ said that the risk factors for men and women also remain the same.

One of the main authors of the study and senior diabetologist Dr V Mohan said that the risk factors for cardiovascular disease in men and women are similar, even in India, except for some differences.

"In men, lipid markers and depression are more strongly associated with the risk of CVD than in women. On the other hand, an unhealthy diet is more strongly associated with the risk of cardiovascular disease in women. In men, behavioural and psychosocial risk factors contributed more to the risk, largely driven by smoking rates which were higher in men than in women, " said Dr Mohan.

The global study assessed risk factors, including metabolic such as high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes, behavioural smoking and diet and psychosocial economic status and depression, without a history of CVD between the ages of 35 and 70.

“Women and men have similar CVD risk factors, which emphasizes the importance of a similar strategy for the prevention of CVD in both ” said the paper’s first author Marjan Walli-Attaei, a research fellow at the Population Health Research Institute (PHRI) of McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS).

"Overall, women had a lower risk of developing CVD than men, especially at younger ages. However, diet was more strongly associated with CVD risk in woman than men. The symptoms of depression were more strongly associated with CVD risk in men than in women. In local settings, people are not very aware of the risks and dietary patterns that need to be taken into account to reduce the risk of CVD in both, " said Dr Mohan.