title: Gender-Related Cardiovascular Risk in Healthy Middle-Aged Adults.
abstract: Men tend to develop cardiovascular disease (CVD) earlier in life than women. Whether this difference is attributable only to gender is a matter of debate. The purpose of this study was to evaluate gender differences in cardiovascular risk in a large cohort of asymptomatic men and women and explore gender-related risk in prespecified risk factor subgroups. We investigated 14,966 asymptomatic men and women free of diabetes, hypertension, or ischemic heart disease who were annually screened. The primary end point of the present study was the occurrence of ischemic or cerebrovascular disease as composite end point. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression modeling was used to assess the gender difference regarding CVD and to examine the association between CVD risk factors and gender. Mean age of the study population was 47 ± 10 years and 30% were women. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that at 6.2 ± 3.9 years' follow-up, the rate of CVD events was 6.1% among men compared with 1.8% among women (log-rank p <0.001). Consistently, multivariate analysis demonstrated that male gender was independently associated with a significant threefold increased risk for development of CVD events (hazard ratio 3.05, CI 2.25 to 4.14). The CVD risk associated with male gender was consistent in each risk subset analyzed, including older age, low high-density lipoprotein, impaired fasting glucose, and positive family history for ischemic heart disease (all p values for gender-by-risk factor interactions <0.05). Higher performance on treadmill test had a protective effect regarding CVD development in both men and women. In conclusions, healthy middle-aged men experienced increased risk for the development of CVD events compared with women independently of traditional CVD risk factors. However, better exercise capacity is associated with a protective effect.
authors.affiliation: Leviev Heart Center, Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Ramat Gan, Israel; Department of Internal Medicine E, Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Ramat Gan, Israel. Electronic address: Olga.Perelshtein@sheba.health.gov.il.
authors.forename: Olga
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Perelshtein Brezinov
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine C, Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Ramat Gan, Israel; Department of Internal Medicine A, Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Ramat Gan, Israel; Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel; Institute for Medical Screening, Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Ramat Gan, Israel.
authors.forename: Shaye
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kivity
authors.affiliation: Leviev Heart Center, Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Ramat Gan, Israel; Institute for Medical Screening, Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Ramat Gan, Israel.
authors.forename: Shlomo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Segev
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine C, Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Ramat Gan, Israel; Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: Yechezkel
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sidi
authors.affiliation: Leviev Heart Center, Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Ramat Gan, Israel; Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: Ilan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Goldenberg
authors.affiliation: Leviev Heart Center, Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Ramat Gan, Israel; Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel; The Dr. Pinchas Borenstein Talpiot Medical Leadership Program 2013, Sheba Medical Center, Ramat Gan, Israel.
authors.forename: Elad
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Maor
authors.affiliation: Leviev Heart Center, Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Ramat Gan, Israel; Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Klempfner
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007557:Israel / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012016:Reference Values; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D015996:Survival Rate / Q000639:trends; D055815:Young Adult