Women Married to Men with Myocardial Infarction are at Increased Risk of Coronary Heart Disease

Abstract

Aim To measure the prevalence of coronary heart disease (CHD) risk factors in the female partners of men with acute myocardial infarction (AMI).Method Consecutive incident cases of men under 6 5 years of age with AM1 surviving to 3 months, their female partners and female healthy controls matched for age and marital status drawn from the general population were investigated. ResultsOne-hundred and seventeen cases of AM1 in men under 6 5 years of age and 89 female partners were identified; 133 age-and sex-matched controls were examined for CHD risk factors. Cigarette smoking was more common among the younger partners (25-44 years of age) compared with controls.A body mass index > 28 kg/m2, systolic blood pressure > 150 mmHg, diastolic blood pressure > 90 mmHg and cholesterol > 6.5 mmol/l were all significantly more common in partners compared with controls. In a logistic regression of age, smoking habit, blood pressure, cholesterol and body mass index, based on 89 female partners and 132 controls with complete data, body mass index > 28 kg/m2 (odds ratio 2.1 7, 95% CI 1.1 1-4.23) and cholesterol > 6.5 mmol/l (odds ratio 2.21, 95% CI 1.08-4.49) were both significantly more common in the female partners compared with controls.Conclusions Women married to men with AM1 have a higher frequency of C H D risk factors compared with married women in the general population, consistent with a shared family lifestyle putting both adults at higher risk of CHD. Screening blood relatives in families prematurely affected by CHD is widely advocated; such screening should include partners.

Translating guidelines to practice: findings from a multidisciplinary preventive cardiology programme in the west of Ireland

“…It is truly multidisciplinary with participants meeting multiple, specially trained healthcare professionals who participate in joint decision-making at weekly meetings. The family-orientated approach is adopted since families tend to share risk factors 45 and people are more likely to succeed in behavioural change if the entire family are embracing lifestyle modification. 46 The programme is flexible, offering a range of attendance options tailored to the patient’s individual needs, and we suspect that this type of approach most likely contributed to the high retention rates observed on the programme.…”

Validation of Fitbit-Flex as a measure of free-living physical activity in a community-based phase III cardiac rehabilitation population

“…1,7 Interestingly, the benefits of cardiac rehabilitation may include partners of patients with CHD as cardiac risk factors are often shared. 8,9 Therefore, promotion of physical activity in the family members of patients with CHD attending cardiac rehabilitation is also worthwhile.…”

Wives of Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction are at an Increased Risk of Developing Coronary Artery Disease

“…However, although extensive research has been carried out investigating risk factors, especially smoking habits, blood pressure and blood lipid levels, for developing CAD in first-degree relatives of patients with CAD, who have a strong genetic predisposition, there is a lack of research investigating risk factors in the wives of this particular group of patients, who would possibly have a similar environmental influence. In particular, there have been only a limited number of studies investigating CAD risk factors in wives of patients with myocardial infarction (MI) which have shown that this particular group is in a higher risk than wives of normal healthy controls [10][11][12]. However, these studies were carried out in Norway, USA and the UK, where lifestyle is different from that in Greece.…”