Accurately Predicting Cardiovascular Disease Risk in Women

Cardiovascular disease in women can now be precisely predicted through a recently-developed clinical tool. A new risk model called the Reynolds Risk Score accurately anticipates the ten-year risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in women. The development and validation of the new global cardiovascular risk algorithm for women may dramatically alter the way women's heart disease risk is assessed. It may also mean that many women may have underrated their risks for cardiovascular diseases.

The risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke is the same for both men and women. But with women, it happens about ten years later. Evaluation of cardiovascular risk is often based on the presence or absence of traditional risk factors such as age, hypertension, smoking, diabetes and hyperlipidemia. However, coronary events still occur even in the absence of these major risk factors.

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death among American women. Currently, the methods used in the prediction of heart diseases in women have been based on traditional risk factors like blood pressure, age, smoking behavior and cholesterol. The traditional risk models, which were developed in the 1960s, did not accurately predict the risk of heart attacks in women and did not show any of the risk factors. The heart disease risk factors back then were mainly based on data about men's heart health.