A study has found that men start developing coronary heart disease several years before women, with sex-based differences emerging by the mid-30s, highlighting that preventive care for young men could be important for improving heart health and lowering disease risk. Men reached a five per cent risk of cardiovascular disease about seven years earlier than women, with coronary heart disease accounting for most of the difference, the researchers said. Men were also estimated to reach a two per cent incidence of coronary heart disease more than a decade before women. However, stroke rates were similar between the sexes, while differences in heart failure emerged later in life. While men and women were found to have a similar cardiovascular risk through their early 30s, around age 35, men’s risk was noted to rise faster and stay higher through midlife.