Heart disease is the leading killer of women in the United States. More than 450,000 American women die every year from cardiovascular diseases, almost twice the death rate from all forms of cancer. Yet while health-conscious women usually know their risk for breast and cervical cancer and are vigilant about getting regular screenings, until now, neither they nor their doctors fully understood their cardiac risk or how to manage it.
A team of Brigham and Women’s Hospital researchers led by cardiologist Paul Ridker, MD, Director of the Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention, has developed a new tool, the Reynolds Risk Score, that more accurately predicts a woman’s risk of having a heart attack, stroke, or other cardiovascular problems.
How is cardiovascular risk measured?
Forty years ago the well-known Framingham Heart Study identified a number of criteria including age, smoking, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol as important factors for predicting cardiovascular risk.
However, these risk factors do not appear to be as useful for predicting risk of heart attack, stroke, and other cardiovascular problems in women as they are for men. In fact, approximately 20 percent of women who have heart attacks have none of the traditional risk factors, and about half have normal cholesterol levels.
“The biology and symptoms of heart disease in women are different from those associated with men’s heart disease, but the tools for measuring risk do not reflect that reality. The new risk assessment tool will be helpful to women and their health care provider in predicting and preventing heart attacks and other cardiovascular events,” says Dr. Ridker.
Dr. Ridker and his team studied 35 potential risk factors in more than 24,000 initially healthy women over 45 years old for more than 10 years. Their findings confirmed the predictive power of the traditional risk factors and identified two new ones – family history of heart attack before age 60 and presence of C-reactive protein, a blood marker for inflammation.
How will better risk assessment benefit women?
When these new factors were added into the assessment tool, as many as half of the women who had been classified as being at intermediate risk under the old system were reclassified into either lower- or higher-risk categories.
Dr. Ridker says, “More accurate risk assessment will be invaluable in helping women and their health care provider predict each woman’s specific risk for heart attack over the next 10 to 40 years. Even more important, it will provide an opportunity to take steps to prevent heart attacks. We can give effective medications including aspirin and statins to women who will benefit from them. Furthermore, we believe that women who have a clear understanding of their personal risk will be motivated to make lifestyle changes, including smoking cessation and controlling blood pressure and cholesterol levels, to reduce their risk.”
What can you do to prevent heart attacks?
Women can assess their personal cardiovascular risk by answering seven simple questions, available on-line at www.reynoldsriskscore.com. Women with questions or concerns about heart health should speak with their health care provider about their own risk factors and an individual plan to reduce risk.
Center for Cardiovascular Disease in Women
The Center for Cardiovascular Disease in Women is dedicated to addressing the special heart health needs of women. It is an integral part of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Cardiovascular Center, a leader in comprehensive care for the full spectrum of cardiovascular disease, including the most complex disorders of the heart, vessels and circulatory system. The Cardiovascular Center’s renowned experts developed many of today’s most advanced diagnostic and treatment approaches and technologies. For more information or to schedule an appointment, call 1-800-BWH-9999 or use our online appointment request form.
