Here’s why you should take modifiable risk factors to heart.

By now you should know the modifiable risk factors for heart disease: smoking, obesity, inactivity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, metabolic syndrome and diabetes. These risk factors not only increase the risk of heart attack, but studies suggest they may also increase the risk a woman will die from coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG) and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI)—procedures designed to improve blood flow to the heart muscle.

A retrospective study of 976 patients—one-third of them female—who underwent CABG found that the women were more likely than the men to have diabetes or hypertension, and be overweight, older, or African-American. These risk factors, in addition to smoking and recent heart attack,…

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