Skipping breakfast might increase your risk for cardiovascular disease.

The connection, found in a study of 6,550 adults 65-75 years old, was particularly strong for stroke.

Almost 60% of the participants had breakfast every day, a quarter on some days, and 16% rarely or never. All were free of heart disease at the start of the study.

Over an average 17 years of follow-up, there were 2,318 deaths, including 619 from cardiovascular diseases.

People who never ate breakfast were more likely to be obese and have high cholesterol, but the observational study, in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, controlled for these and many other health, behavioral and socioeconomic factors.

Compared with those who had breakfast every day, those who skipped the meal had an 87% increased risk for death from any cardiovascular disease and a 19% increased risk for all-cause death. Breakfast skippers had a 59% increased risk of developing heart disease, and more than triple the risk of stroke.

“Many studies have shown that skipping breakfast is related to a higher risk of diabetes, hypertension” and high cholesterol, said lead author Dr. Wei Bao, assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Iowa. “Our study suggests that eating breakfast could be a simple way to promote cardiovascular health.”

REPORT LINKS WOMEN’S LONG-TERM ANTIBIOTIC USE TO CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE

Using antibiotics for two months or longer could be linked to an increase in a woman’s risk for cardiovascular disease.

The finding, published in the European Heart Journal, applied to women who used the drugs when they were 40 and older.

Researchers used data on 36,429 women free of cardio­vascular disease at the start of the study who were participating in a continuing long-term health study. Beginning in 2004, the women reported their use of antibiotics.

During seven years of follow-up, there were 1,056 cases of cardiovascular disease.

Compared with women who never used them, women who used antibiotics for two months or longer during their 40s and 50s had a 28% increased risk for cardiovascular disease, and women older than 60 who used them that long had a 32% increased risk.

The study controlled for family history of heart attack, body mass index, hypertension, the use of other medications and other factors.