Lipid-lowering therapy with statins in postmenopausal women: a few answered and many unanswered questions

Abstract

‘Women have been under-represented in large clinical trials of lipid-lowering therapies and often received less attention than men in trials of CH Dp revention.’ Are lipid disorders as strong a risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) in women as they are in men? Do we have clear evidence that lipidlowering treatments reduce cardiovascular risk in women, more specifically in postmenopausal women? Are therapies as effective and safe in women as they are in men? Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the leading cause of death in men as well as in women in Western societies, and women demonstrate a marked increase in risk in the postmenopausal period [1]. Indeed, half a million women die of CVD in the USA each year. Hence, strategies to reduce the development and progression of atherosclerotic disease in this gender and campaigns directed at increasing awareness are extremely important. Available evidence demonstrates that dyslipidemias play a role in the increase of CHD burden after menopause. Several epidemiological