India, Feb. 4 -- Men begin developing coronary heart disease - a condition that can lead to heart attacks - years earlier than women, with differences emerging as early as the mid-30s, according to a large, decades-long study led by Northwestern Medicine.

The findings, based on more than 30 years of follow-up data, suggest that heart disease screening and prevention efforts may need to begin earlier in adulthood, particularly for men.

While earlier research has consistently shown that men tend to experience heart disease sooner than women, risk factors such as smoking, high blood pressure and diabetes have become increasingly similar between the sexes over recent decades. Despite this convergence, the gap in disease onset has not narrow...