UNIQUE FEMALE CARDIOVASCULAR RISK FACTORS AMONG NON-ELDERLY FEMALE HYPERTENSIVES ATTENDING THE CARDIOLOGY CLINIC AT THE JOS UNIVERSITY TEACHING HOSPITAL

Background Several cardiovascular risk factors are linked with the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD). The history of a woman’s menstrual cycle from menarche to menopause, is a non-traditional, sex-specific risk factor that should be considered when evaluating women for CVD risk. These risk factors are thought to contribute to the stagnation in the reduction of CVD burden in women. The study aimed to determine the unique female cardiovascular risk factors in non-elderly female hypertensives attending the Cardiology clinic at Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH), Jos, Nigeria.

Method This was a hospital-based descriptive cross-sectional study of 120 females aged 18 to 64 years over 6 months, involving history and physical examination.

Results There were 120 hypertensive women with a mean age of 48.0 ± 9.5 years. The overall prevalence of unique female cardiovascular risk factors was 67.5%. The unique female cardiovascular risk factors identified were early age at first childbirth (34.8%), gestational hypertension (29.6%), premenstrual syndrome (18.3%), history of low birth weight delivery (17.4%), early menopause (12,5%), preterm delivery (9.6%), pre-eclampsia (6.1%), gestational diabetes (2.5%) and PCOS (0.8%).

Conclusion The prevalence of unique female CV risk factors in this population is high and these should be factored into CVD management in women to allow for aggressive risk factor modification.