Heart and vascular disease remain the leading contributor to morbidity and mortality among both women and men. While the decrease in mortality among women is well documented, the decline still lags behind that of men, with an alarming tendency towards an increased mortality rate among younger women.
Greater life expectancy for women, together with improvements in primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular, will lead to a larger proportion of women living with disease. Substantial sex differences in the burden of different manifestations of cardiovascular disease, including coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, heart failure, and peripheral artery disease, are widely recognized and must be addressed as new research and best practices are developed.
