KYW Newsradio's Medical Reports are sponsored by Independence Blue Cross.
By Dr. Brian McDonough, Medical Editor
PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Good news and bad news for women when it comes to heart disease.
The good news is that the protective effect of estrogen actually protects women for over a decade more than men when it comes to heart attack and stroke.
But the bad news is that according to a new study, starting as early as young adulthood, women experience a steeper rise in blood pressure than men.
This means that even though women tend to develop heart disease a decade later than men, the biological changes that may impact a woman's risk for certain types of the disease can start to show up in their 20s.
