Abstract

Despite a dramatic decline in mortality over the past years, coronary heart disease is the leading cause of death and disability in the world. At the same time, with the great improvement of medical science, there is a growing population of postmyocardial infarction, postrevascularisation and heart failure survivors. Furthermore, there are rising rates of cigarette smoking, obesity, hypertension and the metabolic syndrome in the world. All the above contribute to the rising incidence rates of ischaemic heart disease (IHD) among women and men. This review highlights sex-specific issues in IHD presentation, evaluation and outcomes, with several new results published from the Women’s Ischemia Syndrome Evaluation study. New evidence on traditional and novel risk markers as well as sex-specific differences in symptoms and diagnostic approaches have also been discussed.