Cardiovascular disease caused by the women's smaller body size and arterial dimensions which are independent of menopause. Cigarettes are the major form of smoked tobacco. Risks to health from tobacco use result not only from direct consumption of tobacco, but also from exposure to second-hand smoke. Approximately 10% of cardiovascular disease is attributed to smoking; however, people who quit smoking by age 30 have almost as low a risk of death as never smokers. Insufficient physical activity (defined as less than 5 x 30 minutes of moderate activity per week, or less than 3 x 20 minutes of vigorous activity per week)
Helen Hobbs Dallas Heart Ball Chair in Cardiology Research, Philip O'Bryan Montgomery Jr., M.D., Distinguished Chair in Developmental Biology, and Eugene McDermott Distinguished Chair for the Study of Human Growth and Development. In 1999, she co-founded the Dallas Heart Study with Dr. Jonathan Cohen with a grant from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation. This study takes genetic samples of thousands of people, representative of the population of Dallas, and correlates them to the subject's health metrics. Through this study, she found that variations in the gene PCSK9 led to increased protection from cardiovascular disease. Recent results from the genetic study show that