In women under the age of 45, diabetes is the greatest risk factor forheart attack myocardium, according to a study presented at the end of August at the congress of the European Society of Cardiology.
Diabetes alone would multiply the risk of heart attack by six compared to the risk measured in women under 45 without diabetes.
The study was conducted on 7,386 women. Among them, 1,941 women under 45, 4,275 women aged 63-64 and 1,1170 women aged 45. The first two groups of participants had all suffered a heart attack.
Led by a team of Polish researchers from the Cardiology Institute in Warsaw, this work has made it possible to highlight the greatest risk factors for heart attack. Besides the diabeteswhich is the most important, high blood pressure multiplies the risk by 4. As for hypercholesterolemia, having too high a cholesterol level, it multiplies the risk by 3. Finally, smoking multiplies the risk of heart attack by 1.6.
“We found that the profile of risk factors in young women was similar to that of the elderly population, apart from the fact that young women are more likely to smoke”, underlines Professor Hanna Szwed, co-author of the ‘study. “These results correlate with those obtained by other studies, which show that tobacco is a growing problem among young women. This is clearly an area where prevention efforts are needed,” she added. It is best to try to quit smoking to limit your risk of heart attack, especially if you are diabetic.
According to the World Health Organization, cardiovascular disease is the cause of more than 52% of deaths among women, a percentage that continues to increase.
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