Dataset Information

Geographical variation in cardiovascular incidence: results from the British Women's Heart and Health Study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in women shows regional variations not explained by common risk factors. Analysis of CVD incidence will provide insight into whether there is further divergence between regions with increasing age.

Methods

Seven-year follow-up data on 2685 women aged 59-80 (mean 69) at baseline from 23 towns in the UK were available from the British Women's Heart and Health Study. Time to fatal or non-fatal CVD was analyzed using Cox regression with adjustment for risk factors, using multiple imputation for missing values.

Results

Compared to South England, CVD incidence is similar in North England (HR 1.05 (95% CI 0.84, 1.31)) and Scotland (0.93 (0.68, 1.27)), but lower in Midlands/Wales (0.85 (0.64, 1.12)). Event severity influenced regional variation, with South England showing lower fatal incident CVD than other regions, but higher non-fatal incident CVD. Kaplan-Meier plots suggested that regional divergence in CVD occurred before baseline (before mean baseline age of 69).

Conclusions

In women, regional differences in CVD early in adult life do not further diverge in later life. This may be due to regional differences in early detection, survivorship of women entering the study, or event severity. Targeting health care resources for CVD by geographic variation may not be appropriate for older age-groups.

SUBMITTER: Kim LG

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2996371 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Geographical variation in cardiovascular incidence: results from the British Women's Heart and Health Study.

Kim Lois G LG Carson Claire C Lawlor Debbie A DA Ebrahim Shah S

BMC public health 20101115

<h4>Background</h4>Prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in women shows regional variations not explained by common risk factors. Analysis of CVD incidence will provide insight into whether there is further divergence between regions with increasing age.<h4>Methods</h4>Seven-year follow-up data on 2685 women aged 59-80 (mean 69) at baseline from 23 towns in the UK were available from the British Women's Heart and Health Study. Time to fatal or non-fatal CVD was analyzed using Cox regression ...[more]

PMID: 21078139

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundGeographic variation in traditional cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors has been observed among women in the US. It is not known whether state-level variation in cardiovascular inflammation exists or could be explained by traditional clinical risk factors and behavioral lifestyle factors.Methods and resultsWe used multilevel linear regression to estimate state-level variation in inflammatory biomarker patterns adjusted for clinical and lifestyle characteristics among 26,029 women free of CVD. Participants derived from the Women's Health Study, a national cohort of healthy middle-aged and older women. Inflammatory biomarker patterns (plasma levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1), and fibrinogen) were compared to state-level patterns of traditional CVD risk factors and global risk scores. We found that all three inflammatory biomarkers exhibited significant state-level variation including hsCRP (lowest vs. highest state median 1.3 mg/L vs. 2.7 mg/L, unadjusted random effect estimate 1(st) to 99(th) percentile range for log hsCRP 0.52, p<.001), sICAM-1 (325 ng/ml vs. 366ng/ml, unadjusted random effect estimate 1(st) to 99(th) percentile range 0.44, p<.001), and fibrinogen (322 mg/dL vs. 367 mg/dL, unadjusted random effect estimate 1(st) to 99(th) percentile range 0.41, p?=?.001). Neither demographic, clinical or lifestyle characteristics explained away state-level effects in biomarker patterns. Southern and Appalachian states (Arkansas, West Virginia) had the highest inflammatory biomarker values. Regional geographic patterns of traditional CVD risk factors and risk scores did not completely overlap with biomarkers of inflammation.ConclusionsThere is state-level geographic variation in inflammatory biomarkers among otherwise healthy women that cannot be completely attributed to traditional clinical risk factors or lifestyle characteristics. Future research should aim to identify additional factors that may explain geographic variation in biomarkers of inflammation among healthy women.

Dataset Information

Geographical variation in cardiovascular incidence: results from the British Women's Heart and Health Study.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Geographical variation in cardiovascular incidence: results from the British Women's Heart and Health Study.

Similar Datasets

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