Coronary Artery Disease Research Paper

Gender, Hyperlipidemia, and Coronary Artery Disease

Coronary arterial disease (CAD) is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in women affecting 20% of all women in the United States.[ American Heart Association. “2002] In fact, CAD causes more deaths in women (> 250,000) each year, than all other causes together. Women also have higher mortality after myocardial infarction (MI), and more women die each year from CAD than men. In the first year after the recognized MI, 38% of women die compared to 25% of men, although 30-day mortality was equivalent.[ American Heart Association. “2002]

It has been proven that the incidence of atherosclerotic diseases, such as coronary heart disease and the stroke is lower in younger women than in men

of the same age.[ Kannel, W.B 1976, Kodama, K 1990] The incidence, however, increases again after menopause and increases with age to come up with level of male rates.[ Kannel, W.B 1976, Kodama, K 1990] Prevalence of hyperlipidemia in women also increases after menopause and overcomes that in men. These phenomena were explained by the atheroprotective of endogenous estrogen action and its defect in women after the menopause. Consequently, it is supposed that hormone replacement therapy (HRT) can inhibit the progression of atherosclerosis in postmenopausal women, which leads to a reduction in cardiovascular disease.

A series of epidemiological studies have shown that gender difference is apparent in the incidence of atherosclerotic disease. Framingham Heart Study,[ Kannel, W.B 1976] shows that <50 years old women have a lower risk (<50%) of cardiovascular disease than men of the same age. On the contrary, the risk increases in women after the age of 50, and after 70 years, there is little gender difference. Similar epidemiological findings have also been reported in Japan,[ Kodama, K 1990] although the incidence of cardiovascular diseases is lower than in the western countries. The Framingham study examined the incidence of cardiovascular disease and menopausal status in women of middle age,[ Kannel, W.B 1976] and showed that postmenopausal women have a greater risk of cardiovascular disease than in age-matched premenopausal women, which shows that menopause is itself a risk factor.