Background Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. Incidence rates of myocardial infarction (MI) in rural West Texas signify a lack of effective, risk-specific prevention programs. The purpose of this study was to identify gender-specific risk factors for MI in rural West Texans. Subjects and methods Hospital patient data for those with and without a history of MI were obtained from the Project FRONTIER database for rural West Texas counties. We used statistical software, such as SPSS, R, and WinBUGS to detect and understand the nature of MI risk factors. Statistical methods including t-tests, Chi-squared, logistic regression, and a Bayesian approach were utilized to analyze data. Results MI significant risk factors obtained for females were systolic blood pressure (p = 0.002), diastolic blood pressure (p = 0.004), pulse (p = 0.015), and smoking (p = 0.002). For males, these were glucose (p = 0.022), age (p = 0.050), body fat (p = 0.034), and smoking (p = 0.017). The mean risk parameter followed a normal distribution, while the precision parameter depicted skew for both sexes. Conclusions Gender-specific differences in MI risk factors exist, and incorporating such variables can guide relevant policymaking to reduce MI incidence in rural West Texans.

Little is known about the manifestation of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) among individuals with ocular cancer (OC), a population for whom reports on sex-based differences in survival remain inconsistent. We evaluated the occurrence of CVD mortality after the diagnosis of OC in the United States. We used data from 11,460 adults diagnosed with OC from 2000 to 2021 who were ≥18 years and were enrolled in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program. We used competing risk models to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). About 55% of adults were male, with uveal melanoma being the most common OC (72.1%). During a median follow-up of 5.4 years, 4561 deaths occurred, with 15% attributable to CVD. In models adjusted for sociodemographic and clinico-pathophysiological factors, male adults had elevated risk for CVD mortality (HR: 1.54, 95%CI: 1.31–1.81). The sex difference in CVD mortality was more prominent for adults diagnosed with OC before 65 years of age (HR: 2.15; 95%CI: 1.48–3.11). These associations remained largely unchanged in propensity score analysis. In this study of adults with OC, CVD deaths were higher among young and middle-aged males. Implementation of optimal cardiovascular health interventions after diagnosis of OC, especially among men, holds promise in enhancing survival in this population.