Korean women with heart disease showed higher awareness and treatment of major risk factors, but lower control rates, pointing to the need for sex-specific strategies to close the gap, according to a study being presented at ACC Asia 2026 Together with KSC Spring Conference taking place in Gyeongju, South Korea, on April 17-18.
The study analyzed data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 2014-2023 for adults over 20 years old. The risk factors examined included high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, obesity and smoking. The researchers estimated rates of awareness, treatment and control among treated patients with high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol. According to the findings, among individuals with heart disease, men were more numerous and had a higher number of risk factors on average, though high cholesterol was more common in women. Awareness and treatment rates were higher in women, but control rates for high blood pressure and high cholesterol treatment were higher in men. Over 10 years, sex differences were observed in most management indicators.
"The message is clear: while men have more risk factors, women are less well controlled, particularly for cholesterol. Even with similar awareness and treatment rate, women are more likely to have uncontrolled hypercholesterolemia. The gap is most evident in midlife women, highlighting where targeted, sex-specific strategies are needed," said Seonji Kim, PhD, with the Department of Biomedical Systems Informatics at Yonsei University College of Medicine in Seoul and the study's lead author.
