Gender and Cardiovascular Health

Abstract

This article discusses the role of traditional and psychosocial coronary risk factors in the gender gap in coronary heart disease (CHD). Although CHD is the major cause of death for both sexes in industrialized countries, men develop the disease earlier than women. Consistent with this observation is the finding that men generally score higher on biomedical coronary risk factors, such as elevated plasma cholesterol and blood pressure, and low levels of HDL cholesterol. However, the fact that CHD mortality rates between countries are larger than those between women and men, together with the observation that CHD mortality has increased rapidly over a brief time span among middle-aged men in many Eastern European countries, suggests that biological factors alone cannot explain men's greater susceptibility to CHD. Indeed, there is evidence that stress-related psychosocial and behavioral factors (e.g., social isolation, depression, maladaptive coping styles, excessive alcohol consumption, smoking) and sex-specific associations among risk factors may add to men's greater risk for CHD.