The chances of a person with mild heart disease suffering a heart-related event, such as a heart attack, are similar irrespective of whether they are male or female, a new study has shown.

According to Canadian researchers, ‘there is a tendency to think women's heart disease is very different than men's heart disease' and that women may be at an increased risk of suffering a major heart-related event compared to men. However, this does not appear to be the case.

"We conducted this study because we wanted to understand whether men and women with the same extent of coronary artery disease (CAD) and similar risk profiles have similar or dissimilar prognoses," said Dr Jonathon Leipsic of St Paul's Hospital in Vancouver.

The coronary arteries are the blood vessels responsible for supplying oxygen-rich blood to the heart. CAD occurs when these arteries start to accumulate a buildup of fatty deposits, known as plaques. These plaques can damage or narrow the arteries over time.

The researchers used coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA), which is a non-invasive imaging test that uses CT scans to create images of the amount of plaque in the coronary arteries.

They analysed data relating to almost 28,000 people in six countries who had undergone CCTA. Traditional risk factors were also taken into account.

They found that when traditional risk factors were taken into account, those with mild CAD had a similar risk of suffering a heart attack or heart-related death irrespective of whether they were male or female.

"There is a tendency to think women's heart disease is very different than men's heart disease. Our data show that once plaque accumulates in the coronary arteries, the prognosis is very similar between men and women," Dr Leipsic said.

He described these findings as ‘exciting, because this has never been shown before'.

"There's a prevailing belief that mild CAD puts women at greater risk for a major cardiac event compared to men with mild CAD. Our findings show this is just not true," he added.

Details of these findings were presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

For more information on heart health, see our Heart Disease Clinic here