Gender-specific aspects of treatment of cardiovascular risk factors in primary and secondary prevention

In men, cardiovascular diseases (CVD) increase steadily by the age of 35 years and reach a plateau in the 7th decade of life, whereas in women few years after the menopause, from about 50 years, the incidence of cardio-cerebro-vascular diseases progressively increases, becoming the leading cause of mortality and morbidity. Because of the greater incidence of CVD in men until the early 1980s, the information on cardiovascular risk factors has been gathered mainly from men and then translated in women. But sex steroid milieu has a different impact on cardiovascular risk profile, as cardiovascular risk factors have a different importance in determining future cardiovascular events in the two sexes and therapeutic strategies have a different impact on reducing cardiovascular risk in the two sexes. Aim of this study is to review the gender-specific aspects influencing the development of cardiovascular risk factors and cardiovascular preventative strategies both in primary and in secondary prevention.