Most people move through their 30s and 40s assuming serious heart disease is a distant concern.
Life feels stable, the body works as expected, and the heart rarely demands attention.
Yet new research suggests that important changes may already be underway long before any symptoms appear.
A major American study now shows that heart disease risk does not develop at the same pace for everyone and that men and women begin to diverge earlier than many believe.
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A gap that appears in midlife
According to a long-term study from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, clear sex-based differences in cardiovascular risk are already visible in the early 50s.
Researchers found that around five percent of men had developed cardiovascular disease or suffered a heart attack by the ages of 50 to 51. Women did not reach the same level of risk until roughly 57 to 58 years of age.
The findings challenge the common assumption that heart disease follows nearly identical timelines in men and women, with only a minor delay for women.
Decades of follow-up
The results are based on data from 5,112 participants followed for an average of 34 years. All participants were between 18 and 30 years old and in good health when the study began in the mid-1980s.
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Studies of this length are rare, but they allow researchers to observe how risk builds gradually over time rather than only after disease becomes evident.
More than lifestyle
Researchers adjusted for factors such as blood pressure, cholesterol, smoking, physical activity, and blood sugar.
These explained part of the difference, but not all of it, suggesting that biological factors may also play a role.
Overall, the study highlights that heart disease develops quietly over decades and that prevention may need to start earlier than many expect.
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Sources: JAHA, WHO and Illustreret Videnskab
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