A team led by Dr. Hannah Cohen of Northbridge's preventive cardiology service has published updated guidance on cardiovascular risk in women, with a focus on the 40-60 age band where most cardiovascular events first present.
The paper identifies five sex-specific factors that historically have been underweighted in standard risk calculators: history of pregnancy-related hypertension or gestational diabetes; early menopause; chronic inflammatory disease; episodic migraine with aura; and a family history of early cardiovascular disease in a first-degree female relative.
"These factors are not rare," Dr. Cohen said. "They show up in roughly a third of women I see in my clinic, and most of them have never had them factored into a real cardiovascular risk conversation."
The full paper, with the proposed amended risk-screening protocol, is available on jamanetwork.com.