While deaths related to heart disease have declined among older people, studies suggest that death rates among younger patients have remained stagnant or increased slightly.
In a new study, researchers found that women under 55 with type 2 diabetes had a much greater risk of having premature coronary heart disease over the next two decades.
They analyzed more than 50 risk factors in 28,024 women who participated in the decades-long Women’s Health Study.
The research was conducted by a team from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Mayo Clinic.
In the study, the team analyzed approximately 50 biomarkers linked to heart health.
Commonly used metrics like low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (or “bad” cholesterol) and hemoglobin A1C (a measure of blood sugar levels) had much weaker associations with CHD onset in women younger than 55 years.
The researchers focused on lipoprotein insulin resistance (LPIR), a newer metric for insulin resistance.
They found whereas LDL cholesterol was only linked to a 40% increase in the risk of CHD in women under 55, LPIR demonstrated a 600% increase.
The team says in otherwise healthy women, insulin resistance, type-2 diabetes, and its sister diagnosis, metabolic syndrome, were major contributors to premature coronary events.
Women under 55 who have obesity had about a much higher risk for coronary events, as did women in that age group who smoked or had high blood pressure.
Physical inactivity and family history are all part of the picture as well.
With the prevalence of diabetes and its associated risk factors increasing dramatically and affecting more women than men, the researchers emphasize the urgency of developing effective interventions.
One author of the study is Samia Mora, MD, MHS, from the Brigham’s Center for Lipid Metabolomics in the Division of Preventive Medicine.
The study is published in JAMA Cardiology.
Copyright © 2021 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
