Traditional and female-specific coronary heart disease risk factors inadequately predict all cases of CHD in women, highlighting the need for further investigation into psychosocial factors.
Highlights the importance of recognizing female-specific and psychosocial risk factors for coronary heart disease in women.
Although men and women share a number of coronary risk factors including age, hypertension, cigarette smoking, diabetes, obesity, plasma lipoprotein concentration, and family history, the overall impact of these factors on the incidence and clinical manifestations of coronary heart disease (CHD) may differ. Additional risk factors which solely impact upon women include the use of oral contraceptives, menopause, and postmenopausal hormones. The impact of psychosocial and behavioral factors on CHD risk in women requires further investigation given that our current knowledge of traditional risk factors alone inadequately predicts all cases of CHD.
Corrao et al. (Wed,) conducted a review in Coronary Heart Disease. Traditional and female-specific coronary heart disease risk factors inadequately predict all cases of CHD in women, highlighting the need for further investigation into psychosocial factors.