Sex and Gender Differences in Coronary Artery Disease

Significant sex differences exist between men and women with regard to coronary artery disease. Most notably, this lethal disease kills more women than men each year and remains the leading cause of death for both men and women. Women and men clearly have different risk profiles when diagnosed with coronary artery disease and fare much differently after myocardial infarction and coronary artery bypass grafting. This review summarizes the sex differences in clinical presentation, diagnosis, and the surgical treatment of coronary artery disease between men and women; and potential multifactorial reasons for sex disparities are suggested.