Menopausal Women Have Lower Risk of Heart Disease Than Men

Although menopause is commonly considered a risk factor for coronary heart disease, a new study showed that menopausal women had a lower risk of dying from heart attack than men. 

“Women have lower cardiovascular disease risk than men, even after menopause, but the advantage is seen primarily in white women compared to white men,” says lead study author Catherine Kim, MD, MPH, associate professor of medicine at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. “Black women have less of an advantage compared to black men.”
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Kim and her colleagues conducted a study of 23,086 black and white adults over age 45 to determine how type of menopause—natural or surgically induced—impacts the risk of heart attack, and whether that impact is similar in black and white men and women.

Compared to white men, white women who had surgically induced menopause had a 35% reduced risk of non-fatal heart attacks or other cardiac events while white women who had gone through natural menopause had a 55% reduced risk.

“It is unknown why their risk remains low, as we adjusted for an extensive list of cardiovascular risk factors and the advantage persisted,” Kim says. “It is possible it is a residual effect of estrogen but estrogen therapy studies have shown no benefit for cardiovascular risk to date.”

Their findings suggest that the advantage to going through natural menopause wasn’t much higher than surgical menopause.

They saw the same trend in black women and men; however, the risk of having a not-fatal cardiac event was not as pronounced in this patient population. Compared to black men, black women who had surgically induced menopause had a 19% reduced risk of non-fatal cardiac events and those who had went through natural menopause had a reduced risk of 31%.

The cause for these racial differences was not apparent, and the authors say additional research is needed to gather more information.

Even though women had a lower risk of total cardiac events than men, regardless of their menopause category, Kim emphasizes that it is important for women to maintain good heart health as they age.

“Women should try to reduce (heart disease) risk as they are able,” she says. “Although we all grow older, we can continue to exercise, maintain a healthy weight, and ensure that our blood pressures are controlled.”

—Colleen Mullarkey

Reference

Kim C, Cushman M, Khodneva Y, Lisabeth LD, Judd S, Kleindorfer DO, et al. Risk of incident coronary heart disease events in men compared to women by menopause type and race. J Am Heart Assoc. 1 July 2015. [Epub ahead of print]. doi:10.1161/JAHA.115.001881.