Men At Greater Risk for First Heart Attack

In that endogenous estrogens help to prevent an adverse lipid profile (dyslipidemia), it is generally thought that pre-menopausal women are better protected against heart attack. Erik Madssen, from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Norway), and colleagues studied 23,525 women and 20,725 men, ages 60 years or younger at the study’s start, following subjects for 12 years for a first heart attack.  By calculating the proportion of heart attack among men with dyslipidemia attributable to the synergism between male sex and dyslipidemia, the team observed that middle-aged men with high cholesterol levels may be at greater risk for a first heart attack, than similar-aged women are.  Specifically observing that men with high cholesterol were at three-times the risk of having a heart attack as compared to women, the study authors warn that: “Dyslipidemia and male sex enhanced the effect of one another in relation to [heart attack] risk.”