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. 2022 Dec 10;19(2):458-466.
doi: 10.5114/aoms/157308. eCollection 2023.

Menopause and women's cardiovascular health: is it really an obvious relationship?

Kamila Ryczkowska  1 , Weronika Adach  1 , Kamil Janikowski  1   2 , Maciej Banach  1   2 , Agata Bielecka-Dabrowa  1   2
Affiliations

Menopause and women's cardiovascular health: is it really an obvious relationship?

Kamila Ryczkowska et al. Arch Med Sci. .

Abstract

Cardiovascular diseases are common for men and women but there are differences between the sexes in terms of clinical symptoms, pathophysiology and response to the treatment. Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in women is commonly underdiagnosed and often women tend to have a lower perception of the risk. That can lead to delayed diagnosis and failed recognition of symptoms. Women develop heart diseases later than men because of the protection in the reproductive phase of their life. Once they enter menopause the risk increases. Estrogen provides a protective effect against heart disease in women. Therefore, the risk of CVD increases after menopause in most cases. The presented work emphasizes the importance of the menopausal period as the time of increasing CVD risk. It also emphasizes the importance of monitoring the health of women in their middle age, a critical time in which early intervention strategies should be implemented to reduce the risk of CVD.

Keywords: cardiovascular diseases; estrogens; hormone therapy; hypertension; lipid disorders.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Protective role of estrogen (E2)
Figure 2
Figure 2
Menopause and cardiovascular disease
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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