Study Shows That Women’s Blood Vessels Age Faster Than Men's

Recent research proved that women’s blood vessels age faster than those of men. Big arteries and tiny capillaries deteriorate at a faster rate in women and hence reduce their efficiency levels. Women are at a greater risk of heart diseases.

Key Takeaways:

• Study reveals how women are more prone to heart diseases.
• Blood pressure naturally starts increasing in women after the age of 30.
• A healthy life style should be adapted to counter a risk of cardiovascular diseases.
• Taking medication regularly is essential for patients having high blood pressure.

It was commonly believed for a very long time that the age of occurrence of cardiovascular diseases lags in women. This meant that changes in the cardiovascular system in women occurred earlier and progressed faster.

“Lifestyle modifications such as regular exercise, eating a heart-healthy diet, and avoiding smoking as well as excessive alcohol use are the first things women can do if a rise in blood pressure is seen,”

Conclusions from the study

These results were produced in a study published in JAMA Cardiology. A senior author on the study, Dr Susan Cheng (Director of public health research at the Smidt Heart Institute, Los Angeles) said- “We were inspired to take a much closer look at blood pressure trajectories over the life course in women compared to men because, at the end of the day, the vast majority of cardiovascular disease processes tend to start with blood pressure elevation as a major driving risk factor”. Cheng further added that the findings suggested that how we tailored high blood pressure should be more personalised for women.

It took a total of four decades to culminate the study and assemble all the results. Approximately 145,000 blood measurements were taken from 32,000 people. The age group which was looked at ranged from five years to 98 years.

Furthermore, researchers concluded that blood pressure starts increasing in women by the age of 30. Also, blood pressure continued to rise in a woman’s lifetime at faster rates than it did in men.

What can be done to combat high blood pressure?

 “Our findings suggest that all the ways by which we think about and aim to prevent or treat high blood pressure likely needs to be more tailored, for women,” Cheng said.

Cardiologists from the Mount Sinai Hospital added that it is important to note changes in our blood pressures and monitoring it early on in life. “Lifestyle modifications such as regular exercise, eating a heart-healthy diet, and avoiding smoking as well as excessive alcohol use are the first things women can do if a rise in blood pressure is seen,” said Krakoff, a cardiologist at the Mount Sinai Hospital.

The medical director of the NYU’s women’s heart programme threw some light on the statistics of women and blood pressures. According to her, only 20 per cent of women in the states have controlled high blood pressures. Such a number occurs in spite of medicines and methodologies prove to be effective.

Patients avoid taking blood pressure medications once they think that blood pressure starts normalising. However, the medication should be taken regularly and this shouldn’t be treated like other diseases like cough and cold.

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Image credit: Iowa Now

Vipashyana Dubey is an intern with SheThePeople.TV