Cardiovascular Disease Prevention in Women

Abstract

Cardiovascular diseases remain the leading cause of morbidity and mortality among women worldwide. The differences in the pathophysiological basis of cardiovascular health among men and women result in variable cardiovascular response to cardiovascular risk factors. Women remain underrepresented in clinical trials, and this has led to lack of sex-specific analysis of clinical trial data and often lack of evidence related to sex-specific recommendations for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) prevention in women. To date, there remains sex-specific risk factor assessment tool. Nonetheless, in addition to traditional ASCVD risk factors, some that affect women differently than men, there are female-specific and female-predominant ASCVD risk factors that should be assessed when applying primary prevention strategies in women. There is a lack of awareness of these sex differences in ASCVD risk assessment and particularly of the female-specific risk factors. Nonetheless, this should be part of any ASCVD risk assessment in women. In this chapter, we aim to describe the sex differences in traditional ASCVD risk factors and describe the female-specific and female-predominant ASCVD risk factors and how to incorporate this information into risk assessment and primary preventive strategies in women.