Heart disease danger for women after menopause
WOMEN’S risk of heart disease catches up to that of men when they lose the protective effects of oestrogen after the menopause, research shows.
Men are more likely to be affected at a younger age by cardiovascular disease. But analysis of 579 women found they experienced accelerated plaque build-up compared with males after menopause, which researchers linked to hormone changes.
Dr Ella Ishaaya, an internal medicine physician at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in California, said: “After menopause, women have much less oestrogen and shift to a more testosterone-heavy profile.
“This affects the way your body stores fat, where it stores fat and the way it processes fat.
“It even affects the way your blood clots. All of those changes increase your risk for developing heart disease.” The women in the study were all taking statins to control cholesterol. Heart scans took their coronary artery calcium score – a measure of fat, calcium and other substances build-up in the heart’s arteries.
Risk
When the scans were repeated at least a year later, their scores had risen by roughly double the amount that men’s scores would be expected to increase over the same time.
Dr Ishaaya said post-menopausal women should talk to their doctors about risk factors for heart disease and what tests are available. She added: “Women are underscreened and undertreated, especially postmenopausal women, who have a barrage of new risk factors.
“This study raises awareness of what those risk factors are and opens the door to indicating the importance of increased screening.”
The British Heart Foundation has raised awareness of a worrying gender gap in care for women, who are twice as likely to die of coronary heart disease – the main cause of heart attack – as breast cancer in the UK.
Professor Vijay
Kunadian, of
Newcastle University, said the study showed statins alone were not enough to reduce a woman’s risk of cardiovascular disease.
She added: “The menopause increases the risk of a heart attack and other cardiovascular diseases because it leads to a drop in oestrogen, a hormone which protects the heart. “The menopause can also cause changes to a woman’s body that increase the risk of developing cardiovascular disease, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and an increase in abdominal fat storage.”
The findings will be presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session in Atlanta on Sunday.