Non-traditional and female-specific CAD risk factors (e.g., rheumatoid arthritis, preterm delivery) may contribute to sex differences in CAD prevalence, presentation, and mortality [15], but have only recently been interrogated and so we did not include them in our multivariable models. Future work is warranted to investigate the role of pleiotropic genes on both heart disease and MDD, especially in females where the effects are strongest, and the etiology of heart disease more obscure.
