scholarly journals Women’s Cardiac Health in 2020: A Systematic Review

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (02) ◽  
pp. 104-110
Author(s):  
Fabiola B. Sozzi ◽  
Marta Belmonte ◽  
Marco Schiavone ◽  
Ciro Canetta ◽  
Rakesh Gupta ◽  
...  

AbstractAlthough substantial progress has been made toward improving gender- and sex-specific cardiovascular disease (CVD) management and outcomes, contemporary reports indicate a persistent knowledge gap with regard to optimal risk-stratification and management in female cardiac heart disease (CHD) patients. Prominent patient and system delays in diagnosing CHD are, in part, due to the limited awareness for the latent CVD risk in women, a lack of sex-specific thresholds within clinical guidelines, and subsequent limited performance of contemporary diagnostic approaches in women. Several traditional risk factors for CHD affect both women and men. But other factors can play a bigger role in the development of heart disease in women. In addition, little is known about the influence of socioenvironmental and contextual factors on gender-specific disease manifestation and outcomes. It is imperative that we understand the mechanisms that contribute to worsening risk factors profiles in young women to reduce future atherosclerotic CVD morbidity and mortality. This comprehensive review focuses on the novel aspects of cardiovascular health in women and sex differences as they relate to clinical practice and prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of CVD. Increased recognition of the prevalence of traditional cardiovascular risk factors and their differential impact in women, as well as emerging nontraditional risk factors unique to or more common in women, contribute to new understanding mechanisms, leading to worsening outcome for women.

Circulation ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 141 (Suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shivani M Reddy ◽  
Tamy H Moraes Tsujimoto ◽  
Wanda Nicholson ◽  
Jason Fine

Introduction: Emerging data suggest that pregnancy may be a window on the future of women’s cardiovascular health. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) guidelines recommend using the Pooled Cohort Equation (PCE) to assess 10-year CVD risk based on traditional risk factors. Less is known about the role of pregnancy-related factors, such as a history of small for gestational age (SGA) infants or breastfeeding, and the risk of CVD events in addition to the PCE. Hypothesis: We hypothesize that pregnancy-related complications and breastfeeding can affect the risk of future CVD risk in addition to traditional risk factors currently accounted for by the PCE. Methods: Using NHANES 1999-2006, a weighted sample of 3,913 women (representing 27,102,057 women in the US population), ages 40-79, with a history of pregnancy, but no prior CVD, was identified. Variables for SGA infants and breastfeeding were abstracted along with traditional risk factors. Less than 5% of women were missing data on these variables. CVD outcomes were defined as a composite of (1) CVD death and (2) surrogates for CVD death, in which diabetes or hypertension were a secondary cause of death. CVD outcomes and survival time were obtained from the NHANES Linked Mortality File. The PCE was used to estimate 10-year CVD risk. Bivariate and survival analyses using Cox proportional hazards models adjusting for PCE risk score were performed. For survival analysis, the cause-specific hazard function was estimated considering the time of death as censoring for women dying from causes other than CVD outcomes, as well as the time of follow-up for women that did not present the death event. Results: Among the sample, 504 (11.8%) women had a SGA infant and 2133 (54.5%) reported a history of breastfeeding. 198 (5.1%) women had the composite CVD death outcome. CVD outcomes were lower in women with a history of breastfeeding (97 of 2133) compared to those who did not breastfeed (96 of 1629). (2.6% vs. 4.2%, p=0.002) The opposite relationship was observed for women with a history of SGA infant (4.2% (29 of 504) vs. 3.2% (161 of 3232), p=0.2). PCE scores were associated with breastfeeding and SGA, potentially confounding those effects. Survival analyses, adjusting for continuous PCE risk scores, showed an inverse association of breastfeeding and CVD outcomes (HR 0.7, 95% CI 0.5 to 1.0) and a positive association of history of SGA infant and CVD outcomes. (HR 1.4, 95% CI 0.8 to 2.2) Conclusion: Specific pregnancy-related complications and breastfeeding may provide additional, relevant information about the risk of CVD risk events beyond traditional risk factors. While further research is needed to incorporate pregnancy outcomes into risk prediction models, it may be helpful for clinicians to counsel women about the potential impact of pregnancy-related factors and breastfeeding on future cardiovascular health.


2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
F Zhu ◽  
B Arshi ◽  
E Aribas ◽  
MA Ikram ◽  
MK Ikram ◽  
...  

Abstract Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: Foundation. Main funding source(s): the Erasmus Medical Center and Erasmus University Rotterdam; the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMw); Purpose To evaluate the sex-specific predictive value of two cardiac biomarkers; N-terminal pro B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and high sensitivity cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT), alongside traditional cardiovascular risk factors, for 10-year cardiovascular risk prediction in general population. Methods A total of 5430 participants (mean age 68.1 years; 59.9% women) free of cardiovascular disease (CVD), with blood sample measurements between 1997 and 2001 were included. We developed a ‘base’ model using cardiovascular risk factors used in the Pooled Cohort Equation (includes age, sex, systolic blood pressure, treatment of hypertension, total and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, smoking, and diabetes) and then extended the ‘base’ model with NT-proBNP or hs-cTnT. These models were developed for coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, and heart failure (HF) and also for composite CVD outcomes. To evaluate biomarkers’ added predictive value, c-statistic, and net reclassification improvement index (NRI) for events and non-events were calculated. NRI was calculated using cutoffs of 5%, 7.5% and 20% to categorize participants as low, borderline, intermediate, or high risk. Results Adding NT-proBNP to the ‘base’ model significantly improved c-statistic for all outcomes (increases ranged between 0.012-0.047), with the largest improvement in HF [0.026 (95% CI, 0.013, 0.040) for women and 0.047 (95% CI, 0.026, 0.069) for men]. Adding hs-TnT to ‘base’ model increased the c-statistic for CHD in women by 0.040 (95% CI, 0.013, 0.067) and for HF in men by 0.032 (95% CI, 0.005, 0.059). Improvments in reclassification by both biomarkers were mostly limited to modest improvemetns in reclassification of non-events [largest non-event NRI for global CVD in women (NT-proBNP: 11.8%; hs-cTnT: 10.5%) and for HF in men (NT-proBNP: 9.6%; hs-cTnT: 8.4%)]. Conclusion NT-proBNP improved model performance for prediction of all cardiovascular outcomes, in particular for HF, beyond traditional risk factors for both women and men. Hs-cTnT showed modest added predictive value beyond traditional risk factors for CHD among women and for HF among men. Imropovements in reclassification by both biomarkers were modest and not clinically relevant. Improvements of 10-year risk predictions Events Adding NT-proBNP Adding troponin T Delta c-statistic* Event NRI, % Non-event NRI, % Delta c-statistic* Event NRI, % Non-event NRI, % WomenASCVD Global CVD 0.012 (0.004, 0.020) 0.018 (0.010, 0.026) -1.7 (-5.0, 1.5)-0.8 (-3.8, 2.2) 5.4 (3.5, 7.2)11.8 (9.6, 14.1) 0.028 (0.009, 0.048)0.025 (0.009, 0.040) -0.4 (-7.1, 6.2)2.9 (-2.4, 8.3) 6.9 (3.9, 9.9)10.5 (7.3, 13.8) MenASCVD Global CVD 0.016 (0.005, 0.027)0.023 (0.012, 0.033) 0.7 (-2.3, 3.7)-0.3 (-3.0, 2.4) 5.2 (3.2, 7.2)7.2 (4.9, 9.4) 0.007 (-0.002, 0.016)0.011 (0.000, 0.021) -1.1 (-5.0, 2.7)-1.6 (-6.0, 2.8) 4.0 (1.2, 6.9)6.4 (3.1, 9.7) ASCVD comprises coronary heart disease and stroke; Global CVD comprises coronary heart disease, stroke and heart failure.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 01-04
Author(s):  
Delcio G Silva Junior

The presence of Cardio Vascular Disease (CVD) impacts negatively on expectation and quality of life of the population, being one of the main causes of disability. Many of those who become cardiovascular patients throughout their life could have had different evolution if preventive attitudes were taken. Since 50’s decade, Framingham studies have shown the importance of predetermining factors for CVD occurrence. The classical CVD risk factors such as diabetes, metabolic syndrome, dyslipidemia, hypertension, smoking and family history are well established as predictors of cardiovascular events. The presence of Cardio Vascular Disease (CVD) impacts negatively on expectation and quality of life of the population, being one of the main causes of disability. Many of those who become cardiovascular patients throughout their life could have had different evolution if preventive attitudes were taken. Since 50’s decade, Framingham studies have shown the importance of predetermining factors for CVD occurrence. The classical CVD risk factors such as diabetes, metabolic syndrome, dyslipidemia, hypertension, smoking and family history are well established as predictors of cardiovascular events. However, in certain clinical conditions, traditional risk factors seem not to fully explain the incidence of CVD. Coronary artery disease and early atherosclerosis in young women with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) are one of the best examples of how chronic inflammatory diseases can affect individuals who are normally poorly exposed to traditional risk factors. Even with the plurality of extra-articular manifestations of rheumatologic diseases, such as pulmonary hypertension and SLE encephalopathy, uveitis in spondyloarthritis, or as Achalasia in scleroderma, attention is being paid to the frequent cardiovascular system involvement in these patients, especially in the vascular territory


Circulation ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 127 (suppl_12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen P Glasser ◽  
Daniel L Halberg ◽  
Charles Sands ◽  
Paul Muntner ◽  
Monika Safford

Background: Increased attention has been given to pulse pressure (PP) as a potential independent risk factor of cardiovascular disease. We examined the relationship between PP and incident acute coronary heart disease (CHD). Methods: We used data from the REasons for Geographic And Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) national cohort study of 30,239 black and white participants aged 45 years or older and enrolled between 2003 and 2007. Baseline data included a 45-minute interview and in-home visit during which blood pressure was assessed and recorded as the average of two measurements obtained after a 5 minute seated rest. PP (SBP-DBP) was classified into 4 groups (<45, 45-54, 54.1-64, >64.1 mmHg). Telephone follow-up occurred every six months for self or proxy-reported suspected events, triggering medical record retrieval and adjudication by experts. Cox-proportional hazards models examined the association of incident CHD with PP groups, adjusting for socio-demographic and clinical risk factors. Results: This analysis included 22,909 participants free of CHD at baseline, with mean age 64.7±9.4 years; 40.4%were black, 44.6% were male and they experienced a total of 515 incident CHD events over a mean 3.4 yrs of follow-up (maximum 6 years). In unadjusted analyses, compared with PP<45 mmHg, each higher PP group had incrementally higher hazard ratios (HR) for incident CHD (HR 1.28 {95% CI 1.02-1.60}, 2.05 {1.63-2.56}, 3.82 {3.08-4.74}, p<0.001 for linear trend). This relationship persisted after fully adjusting including SBP for the highest PP group (HR 0.96 {0.75-1.21}, 1.12 {0.86-1.46}, 1.51 {1.09-2.10}, p trend <0.0001). Conclusions: High PP was associated with incident CHD, even when accounting for SBP and numerous other CVD risk factors.


Circulation ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 129 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Solomon K Musani ◽  
Ramachandran Vasan ◽  
Aurelian Bidulescu ◽  
Jung Lee ◽  
Gregory Wilson ◽  
...  

Background: The usefulness of biomarkers from different biologic pathways for predicting cardiovascular disease (CVD) events among African Americans is not well understood. Methods: We evaluated prospectively 3,102 Jackson Heart Study participants (mean age 54 years; 64% women) with data on a panel of 9 biomarkers representing inflammation (high sensitivity C - reactive protein), adiposity (adiponectin, leptin), neurohormonal activation (B-type natriuretic peptide [BNP], aldosterone, and cortisol); insulin resistance (HOMA-IR); and endothelial function (endothelin and homocysteine). We used Cox proportional hazard regression to relate the biomarker panel to the incidence of CVD (stroke, coronary heart disease, angina, heart failure and intermittent claudication) adjusting for standard CVD risk factors. Results: On follow-up (median 8.2 years), 224 participants (141 women) experienced a first CVD event, and 238 (140 women) died. Circulating concentrations of aldosterone, BNP and HOMA-IR were associated with CVD (multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios [HR] and 95% confidence interval [CI] per standard deviation (SD) increase in log-biomarker) were, respectively 1.15, (95% CI 1.01-1.30, p=0.016), 1.97, (95% CI 1.22-2.41, p<0.0001), and 1.30, (95% CI 1.10-1.52, p=0.0064). Blood cortisol and homocysteine were associated with death (HR per SD increment log-biomarker, respectively, 1.17, (95% CI 1.01-1.35, p=0.042), and 1.24, (95% CI 1.10-1.40, pvalue=0.0005). Biomarkers improved risk reclassification by 0.135; 0.120 of which was gained in classification of participants that experienced CVD events and 0.015 from participants that did not. Also, biomarkers marginally increased the model c-statistic beyond traditional risk factors. Conclusions: In our community-based sample of African Americans, circulating aldosterone, BNP and HOMA-IR predicted CVD risk, whereas serum cortisol and homocysteine predicted death. However, the incremental yield of biomarkers over traditional risk factors for risk prediction was minimal.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (Suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Venkata Sai Gogineni ◽  
Ki Park ◽  
Denise Manfrini ◽  
Robert Egerman ◽  
Sharon Aroda ◽  
...  

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the number one cause of death amongst women. There has been much effort put forth over the past decade in reducing both the incidence and prevalence of this disease burden through screening and treating the traditional risk factors. Recent guidelines have shown that adverse pregnancy outcomes (APOs), including pre-eclampsia (PEC), gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and pre-term birth (PTB) have been associated with future maternal CVD risk. Much of the current literature focuses almost exclusively on PEC. Our investigation is more comprehensive, covering not only these other APOs but assessing whether providers of multiple specialties in our community are aware of the APO to CVD risk association. The primary objective of this study was to investigate if there exist any knowledge gaps regarding the progression from APO to CVD and if this knowledge varies by specialty. Methods: An anonymous voluntary survey through REDCap© was sent to providers in the fields of Internal medicine (IM, 21%), Family medicine (FM, 26%), Obstetrics-Gynecology (Ob-Gyn, 23%) and Cardiology (30%) who have been in practice for greater than five years in our local Gainesville community. This project was registered as a QI project and descriptive analysis was used to examine the responses. Results: A total of 53 providers responded to the survey. Despite having the majority of patients being women, Ob-Gyn was the least likely amongst all specialties to routinely screen for CV risk factors. However, when addressed, they were the most likely to ask about APOs. Cardiologists, despite declaring to be aware of the association between APOs and CV risk, were least likely to ask about APOs. All specialties recognized PEC and GDM as APOs linked to long-term maternal CV risk but failed to associate PTB as an APO. The majority of providers amongst IM, FM, and Cardiology did not ask about APOs and lacked the knowledge of how often to appropriately screen for secondary risk factors associated with APOs. Additionally, these providers outright admitted that they are not familiar with the current AHA and/or ACOG guidelines for screening and follow-up. Conclusion: Descriptive statistical analysis of our data suggests that there exists a notable knowledge gap between all four specialties investigated in our survey. Education concerning the link between APOs and future maternal CV risk is needed amongst all specialties, especially amongst the providers in Cardiology, IM, and FM. Targeted efforts at our institution to improve awareness of all APOs, their associated secondary risk factors, and appropriate screening is required in all specialties to help reduce CVD morbidity and mortality.


VASA ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fronek ◽  
Allison

Background: The aim of this study was first to compare the widely used flow mediated dilation ( FMD ) method with the iontophoretically induced acetylcholine vasodilation (IAV ) procedure. The ultimate goal was to examine the endothelial activity ( EA ) in patients with various cardiovascular risk factors compared with control subjects. Patients and methods: In the upper extremities of 27 subjects, comparisons of EA by FMD and IAV measured with laser Doppler flux method (LDF) were conducted. IAV-EA was then measured using LDF in an additional 93 subjects with various cardiovascular ( CVD ) risk factors and/or a diagnosis of coronary heart disease (CHD). Results: The mean age of the subjects was 56.2 years and 54% were male. There was a robust and significant correlation between FMD vs IAV endothelial activity (r = 0.87, p = 0.025). After adjustment for age, there were significant differences in LDF-measured, acetylcholine-induced EA by diagnosis of CHD (p = 0.02), hyperlipidemia (p = 0.03) and diabetes (p < 0.01), as well as by sex (p < 0.01). The difference by hypertension status was of borderline significance (p = 0.07). LDF EA was higher in non-smokers compared to smokers but this difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.3). After adjustment for age and gender, a 10-unit increase in LDF-measured EA was associated with a 12% lower odds for a diagnosis of CHD (p = 0.07). Conclusions: Measurement of IAV-EA by LDF is a simple, noninvasive methodology which is highly correlated with post-occlusive FMD EA and is also significantly associated with a diagnosis of CHD.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (24) ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor Okunrintemi ◽  
Martin Tibuakuu ◽  
Salim S. Virani ◽  
Laurence S. Sperling ◽  
Annabelle Santos Volgman ◽  
...  

Background Sex differences in the trends for control of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors have been described, but temporal trends in the age at which CVD and its risk factors are diagnosed and sex‐specific differences in these trends are unknown. Methods and Results We used the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey 2008 to 2017, a nationally representative sample of the US population. Individuals ≥18 years, with a diagnosis of hypercholesterolemia, hypertension, coronary heart disease, or stroke, and who reported the age when these conditions were diagnosed, were included. We included 100 709 participants (50.2% women), representing 91.9 million US adults with above conditions. For coronary heart disease and hypercholesterolemia, mean age at diagnosis was 1.06 and 0.92 years older for women, compared with men, respectively (both P <0.001). For stroke, mean age at diagnosis for women was 1.20 years younger than men ( P <0.001). The mean age at diagnosis of CVD risk factors became younger over time, with steeper declines among women (annual decrease, hypercholesterolemia [women, 0.31 years; men 0.24 years] and hypertension [women, 0.23 years; men, 0.20 years]; P <0.001). Coronary heart disease was not statistically significant. For stroke, while age at diagnosis decreased by 0.19 years annually for women ( P =0.03), it increased by 0.22 years for men ( P =0.02). Conclusions The trend in decreasing age at diagnosis for CVD and its risk factors in the United States appears to be more pronounced among women. While earlier identification of CVD risk factors may provide opportunity to initiate preventive treatment, younger age at diagnosis of CVD highlights the need for the prevention of CVD earlier in life, and sex‐specific interventions may be needed.


2011 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 104-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cleto Álvarez-Aguilar ◽  
Daniel Lara-Romero ◽  
Javier Piñón-Escobedo ◽  
Anel Gómez-García ◽  
Alfonso R Álvarez-Paredes

Author(s):  
Jos Twisk ◽  
Isabel Ferreira

The incidence of morbidity and mortality related to CVD is rather low in a paediatric population. Studies investigating the relationship between physical activity, physical fitness, and cardiovascular health in children and adolescents are therefore mostly limited to CVD risk factors as outcome measures. For this reason, this chapter will focus on the association of physical activity and physical fitness with CVD risk factors in children and adolescents. These risk factors can be divided into the so-called traditional CVD risk factors; that is, lipoproteins [total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, triglycerides (TG)], blood pressure, body fatness, and diabetes, and ‘new’ CVD risk factors; that is, other lipoproteins [lipoprotein(a) (Lp(a)), apolipoprotein (apo)B, and apoA-1], coagulation and inflammation markers [fibrinogen, C-reactive protein (CRP)], homocysteine, and heart rate variability.


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