# The Age at Which the Risk of Heart Disease in Men Sharply Increases Has Been Named

American scientists from Northwestern University have established that the first significant differences in cardiovascular disease risk between men and women emerge at approximately 35 years of age. The results of the large-scale study were published in the authoritative Journal of the American Heart Association.

Specialists monitored the health status of 5,112 people over an average of 34 years, recording all cases of heart attacks, strokes, and heart failure. The project started in the mid-1980s, when participants were between 18 and 30 years old. An important selection criterion was the absence of cardiovascular diseases in their medical history at the start of observations.

Analysis of the collected data showed that in men around age 35, there is a sharp jump in the risk of developing cardiovascular pathologies, while no such pattern was found in women. The main role in forming this gap is played by coronary heart disease - a condition characterized by narrowing or blockage of coronary arteries by fatty plaques, which significantly increases the probability of heart attack.

Notably, the identified differences between sexes persisted even after accounting for all traditional risk factors: blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose levels in blood, smoking, physical activity, and body mass index. This indicates the existence of additional biological mechanisms affecting disease development.

According to the obtained data, men reach a five percent level of cardiovascular disease incidence approximately seven years earlier than women - on average at 50.5 years versus 57.5 years for the fairer sex.

For coronary heart disease, the gap proved even more impressive: the two percent incidence level in men is recorded approximately ten years earlier than in women.

The study did not reveal significant differences in stroke risk between men and women. As for heart failure, the increase in probability of its development in men began to manifest at a later age. The authors note that the sample remained relatively young - at the time of observation completion, participants had not yet turned 65 years old.

The researchers emphasize that the obtained results point to the need for earlier screening of cardiovascular risks in men. Since heart diseases develop over decades, identifying risk factors at a young age can significantly reduce the probability of heart attack and other serious complications in the future.