Thread by @hyderabaddoctor

Women have a higher risk of heart attack, heart failure and stroke at a lower BP as compared to men

1. The myocardial infarction (MI) risk for women with systolic BP (SBP) 110 to 119 mm Hg was comparable with the MI risk for men with SBP ≥160 mm Hg.
#MedTwitter #neurotwitter

2. The heart failure (HF) risk for women with SBP 110 to 119 mm Hg was comparable with HF risk for men with SBP 120 to 129 mmHg.

3. Stroke risk also manifested at sex-specific, albeit higher, thresholds:
Stroke risk in women with SBP 120 to 129 mm Hg was comparable with risk in men with SBP 140 to 149 mm Hg.
doi.org/10.1161/CIRCUL…

4. Normal BP range among women and men differ.
The maximum sex difference was found at age 26 (+8.2 mm Hg higher in men); women then experienced steeper rises and caught up with men by the seventh decade.
doi.org/10.1371%2Fjour…

5. What are the implications of these observations?

*Research is skewed towards data obtained from men, and the representation of women in research is lower (or nil in many cases),
*The normal SBP range is lower in adult women (as compared to men).
#gendergap #research

6. Take home message
*Systolic BP targets should be lower in women (as compared to men) in order to reduce the risk of heart attack, heart failure and stroke.
*Aim for SBP<100 mmHg in women, and <130 mmHg among men.

6a.
*SBP 100 to 109 mm Hg relative to SBP <100 mm Hg was associated with incident Cardiovascular disease in women but not men, in whom risk was seen at SBP 130 to 139 mm Hg.