Women’s Heart Health: Lifestyle & Risk Factors
Lifestyle choices significantly impact women’s heart health more than men’s,according to recent findings presented at ACC.25. This study underscores the critical role of diet, exercise, and blood pressure in assessing heart disease risk for women. Researchers found that women, even though frequently enough starting with a healthier baseline, face a greater surge in cardiovascular risk when negative factors are present, unlike men. Sex-specific screenings could improve risk assessment and encourage healthier habits overall; News Directory 3 is following this story. Discover how these insights are shaping future research on heart health.
Heart Disease Risk Factors Impact Women more Than Men
Updated June 06,2025
A study presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session (ACC.25) indicates that lifestyle and health factors play a more meaningful role in cardiovascular risk for women than for men. The research highlights the importance of diet, exercise, smoking, and blood pressure in assessing heart disease risk.
Researchers suggest that sex-specific screening and risk assessment could provide a more accurate understanding of cardiovascular risk and encourage healthier habits. The study, involving over 175,000 Canadian adults from the Ontario Health Study (2009-2017), examined eight key factors: diet, sleep, physical activity, smoking, body mass index, blood glucose, lipids, and blood pressure.
Dr. Maneesh Sud,assistant professor at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center in Toronto,led the study. He noted that the increased risk associated with each factor is higher in women than in men. “For the same level of health,our study shows that the increase in risk [related to each factor] is higher in women than in men – it’s not one-size-fits-all,” Sud said.
The study revealed that women generally exhibit better health profiles than men. However,women with more negative risk factors face a greater increase in the likelihood of heart attack,stroke,or other cardiovascular events compared to men with similar profiles. During the 11-year follow-up, researchers tracked the incidence of seven heart health outcomes, including heart attack, stroke, and cardiovascular death.
The findings showed that 9.1% of women had ideal health scores compared to 4.8% of men. Conversely, 21.9% of women were categorized as having poor health, versus 30.5% of men. Women were also more likely to have ideal diet, blood glucose, cholesterol, and blood pressure levels, but slightly less likely to have ideal physical activity levels.
After adjusting for age, the study found that both sexes experienced elevated heart disease risk with poor or intermediate health. However, the differences were more pronounced in women.Women with poor health faced nearly five times the risk of heart disease compared to women with ideal health, while men with poor health had 2.5 times the risk.
What’s next
Researchers plan further analyses to explore potential differences in risk factor impacts among various racial and ethnic groups, as well as among women before and after menopause.They also aim to understand how biological or sociocultural factors might influence outcomes differently between men and women.