Female Heart Workshop 20206 – update and inspiration
Leading national and international researchers on women's risk of dementia and heart disease met at the Female Heart Workshop for the tenth year.
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40% of dementia can be prevented by detecting and treating known risk factors such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Women who develop high blood pressure during pregnancy or pregnancy also have an increased risk of developing dementia. Professor Judy Pa from the University of California and Professor Claudia Barth from Charité University in Berlin presented their groundbreaking research on how known risk factors for heart disease in women also increase the risk of dementia. A good example of how researchers in different fields benefit from meeting and collaborating.
How heart disease can be better prevented in women was demonstrated in sparkling lectures based on the Rotterdam study in the Netherlands by Professor Maryam Kavousi, while Professor Maja-Lisa Løchen from the Arctic University of Norway UiT presented research showing that women are more susceptible to the harmful effects of e-cigarettes and snus.
In the abstract session, young and more established local researchers presented their latest results and took the opportunity to discuss these with leading researchers.
In collaboration with the EU COST Action AtheroNet, the focus was on how underlying mechanisms for gender differences in cardiovascular disease can be better understood with omic analyses. Professors Suvi Linna-Kuosmanen from the University of Eastern Finland gave examples from analyses of heart muscle biopsies. Mike Davies from the University of Copenhagen presented sex-specific protein markers for atherosclerosis, and our own postdoctoral fellow Hilde Halland presented her latest results on sex differences in inflammatory proteins in the blood in people with obesity.
The workshop concluded with a session devoted to underestimated risk factors for heart disease in women. Professor Christie Deaton from the University of Cambridge lectured on how mental health affects the ability to make good health choices and to follow up preventive treatment of heart disease. Nuria Amigó from the University of Rovira in Virgilli, Spain, gave a lecture on molecular markers during menopause and how these can be used for personalised assessment of heart disease risk.