• Tiffany E Chang, Larry B Goldstein, Erica C Leifheit, Virginia J Howard, and Judith H Lichtman.
• Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
• J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2022 Jun 1; 31 (6): 834-841.

AbstractBackground: The relationship between cardiovascular disease risk factors (CVD-RFs) and health care utilization may differ by sex. We determined whether having more CVD-RFs was associated with all-cause emergency department (ED) visits and all-cause hospitalizations for women and men with prior stroke/transient ischemic attack (TIA). Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we used nationally representative Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (2012-2015) data for persons aged ≥18 years with a prior stroke/TIA. CVD-RF summary scores include six self-reported factors (hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, physical inactivity, smoking, and obesity). Sex-specific covariate-adjusted logistic regression models assessed associations between CVD-RF scores and having one or more all-cause ED visits and one or more all-cause hospitalizations. Results: The weighted sample represents 9.1 million individuals (mean age 66.6 years; 54.3% women). Prevalence of low (0-1 risk factors), intermediate (2-3), and high (4-6) CVD-RF scores was 19.4%, 60.5%, and 20.1% for women and 14.6%, 60.2%, and 25.2% for men, respectively. Women having intermediate and high scores had a 1.58-fold (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.14-2.18) and 2.21-fold (95% CI, 1.50-3.25) increased odds of ED visits compared with women with low scores. Women with high CVD-RF scores had a 2.18-fold (95% CI, 1.42-3.34) increased odds of hospitalizations, but there was no association for women with intermediate CVD-RF profiles. There was no association between CVD-RF scores and either outcome for men. Conclusions: Women, but not men, with high and intermediate CVD-RF profiles had increased odds of all-cause ED visits; women with high CVD-RF profiles had increased odds of all-cause hospitalizations. The burden of CVD-RFs may be a sex-specific predictor of higher health care utilization in women with a history of stroke/TIA.

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