Abstract
Recent attention to the high prevalence of fatal and nonfatal cardiovascular disease in women has underscored the importance of lifestyle modification and cardiovascular risk factor reduction in this population. Recommendations for risk factor reduction in women are generally the same as in men, with one major and several minor exceptions. Postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy has a powerful effect on cardiovascular risk reduction but may be inappropriate for some women because of apparent enhanced breast cancer risk. The utility of aspirin therapy in the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease in women remains to be established. In contrast, aspirin is effective in the secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease in both sexes. Further, the benefits of, and prescription for, lipid-lowering therapy may prove to be different in women than in men, and the benefits of antihypertensive treatment may be less. For the other risk factors, including smoking, diabetes mellitus, obesity, sedentary lifestyle, and alcohol, recommendations are the same for both sexes.
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