Gender Health Gap: Unterbehandlung kardiovaskulärer Erkrankungen bei Frauen

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in both women and men in the industrialized world. Although the main risk factors for cardiovascular disease are basically identical, the pathogenesis of ischemic heart disease in women differs from that in men from both genetic and psychosocial aspects. Cardiovascular manifestations in women are recognized later and treated less intensively. Even in secondary prevention, women achieve the desired risk reduction by optimizing modifiable risk factors less often than men. This applies in particular to lipidological therapy and also the administration of lipid-lowering drugs. In summary, gender-specific aspects of cardiovascular diagnostics and therapy must be taken into account.