Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
oronary heart disease is the leading cause of mortality and morbidity in industrialized countries, in men as well as in women. Women have their first cardiac event 6 to 10 years later than men do. Whereas the cardiovascular death rates are declining in men, they remain constant in women. In cardiovascular studies with age limits, women are naturally the minority, amounting to 40%. It is well known that distinct gender differences exist in terms of presentation of symptoms, validity of diagnostic tests, drug side effects, and complications. With respect to cardiac risk factors, women have higher rates of diabetes and hypertension but are less frequently smokers.
Elsaesser et al. (2004) studied this question.