Assessment of Cardiovascular Risk in Women: Progress so Far and Progress to Come

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Women's Health
• Preventive Medicine

Background:

• Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in women globally.
• Existing cardiovascular risk prediction models may not fully capture risks specific to women.
• Pregnancy and reproductive factors are known to influence long-term cardiovascular risk.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the literature on sex differences in established cardiovascular risk factors.
• To evaluate the added predictive value of female-specific factors in cardiovascular risk assessment.
• To identify gaps in current cardiovascular disease risk prediction for women.

Main Methods:

• Systematic literature review of studies assessing female-specific factors and cardiovascular risk.
• Analysis of existing literature on sex differences in cardiovascular risk factor associations.
• Evaluation of studies incorporating female-specific factors into cardiovascular risk prediction models.

Main Results:

• Established cardiovascular risk factors show sex-specific associations with cardiovascular disease.
• Incorporating female-specific factors into risk models provided little to no significant improvement in predicting cardiovascular events.
• Most studies focused on women aged 40 years and older.

Conclusions:

• Current cardiovascular risk prediction models may not significantly benefit from adding female-specific factors for older women.
• Pregnancy-related factors may hold greater predictive value for cardiovascular risk in younger women.
• Further research is essential to optimize cardiovascular disease risk prediction and prevention strategies for all women.