RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 A comprehensive view of sex-specific issues related to cardiovascular disease
JF Canadian Medical Association Journal
JO CMAJ
FD Canadian Medical Association
SP S1
OP S44
DO 10.1503/cmaj.051455
VO 176
IS 6
A1 Louise Pilote
A1 Kaberi Dasgupta
A1 Veena Guru
A1 Karin H. Humphries
A1 Jennifer McGrath
A1 Colleen Norris
A1 Doreen Rabi
A1 Johanne Tremblay
A1 Arsham Alamian
A1 Tracie Barnett
A1 Jafna Cox
A1 William Amin Ghali
A1 Sherry Grace
A1 Pavel Hamet
A1 Teresa Ho
A1 Susan Kirkland
A1 Marie Lambert
A1 Danielle Libersan
A1 Jennifer O'Loughlin
A1 Gilles Paradis
A1 Milan Petrovich
A1 Vicky Tagalakis
YR 2007
UL http://www.cmaj.ca/content/176/6/S1.abstract
AB Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of mortality in women. In fact, CVD is responsible for a third of all deaths of women worldwide and half of all deaths of women over 50 years of age in developing countries. The prevalence of CVD risk factor precursors is increasing in children. Retrospective analyses suggest that there are some clinically relevant differences between women and men in terms of prevalence, presentation, management and outcomes of the disease, but little is known about why CVD affects women and men differently. For instance, women with diabetes have a significantly higher CVD mortality rate than men with diabetes. Similarly, women with atrial fibrillation are at greater risk of stroke than men with atrial fibrillation. Historically, women have been underrepresented in clinical trials. The lack of good trial evidence concerning sex-specific outcomes has led to assumptions about CVD treatment in women, which in turn may have resulted in inadequate diagnoses and suboptimal management, greatly affecting outcomes. This knowledge gap may also explain why cardiovascular health in women is not improving as fast as that of men. Over the last decades, mortality rates in men have steadily declined, while those in women remained stable. It is also becoming increasingly evident that gender differences in cultural, behavioural, psychosocial and socioeconomic status are responsible, to various degrees, for the observed differences between women and men. However, the interaction between sex-and gender-related factors and CVD outcomes in women remains largely unknown.