Healthy Lifestyle Might Prevent CHD in Nearly 75% of Women

Although mortality from coronary heart disease (CHD) in the U.S. is declining, CHD remains the leading cause of death among American women. In this analysis, investigators assessed six healthy lifestyle habits (i.e., not smoking, ≥2.5 hours weekly physical activity, healthy diet, normal body-mass index, average ≤1 alcoholic drinks daily, and ≤7 hours weekly television watching) in >88,000 women (age range, 27–44) to determine what proportion of CHD (nonfatal myocardial infarction and CHD-related death) might be preventable.

During 20 years of follow-up, 456 cases of newly diagnosed CHD were documented. The hazard ratio for CHD among women who adhered to all six healthy habits was 0.08, compared with those who had none of these habits. For an…