New York, Sep 9 (IANS) Older women in their sixties could face the risk of heart disease more than men, says a new study.

Eileen Crimmins and colleagues at the University of Southern California examined changes between 1988 and 2002 in indicators related to cardiovascular disease, reported the science portal EurekAlert.

The team used data on men and women, 40 years and older, from two broadly representative samples of the US population, approximately 10 years apart.

The findings, published in the current issue of the Journal of Women's Health, reflected a change from previous decades when older men were at greater risk for heart disease.

The research showed that over the last 10 years, older women are doing worse, while men are doing better.

Women's risk for heart disease is still lower than men's through middle age. But the break-even point at which women catch up with men is now at age 60, 10 years earlier than before.

"Women are no longer protected from heart disease risk relative to men," Crimmins said.

High risk blood pressure - both diastolic and systolic - increased in women but decreased in men. Medication against hypertension appeared to be more effective in men than women, the study found.