Cardiovascular disease as a current threat of older women. Relation to estrogens]

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in women around the world. Cardiovascular disease risk increases after the menopause which may be related to metabolic and hormonal changes. The decline in ovarian function with menopause is associated with spontaneous increases in proinflammatory cytokines. Chronic inflammation is a major factor that drives the progression of atherosclerosis and atherothrombosis. Measurement of the inflammatory markers has been postulated as a method of determining increased risk of cardiovascular disease in apparently healthy older women. Endogenous estrogen appears to be cardioprotective and several observational epidemiological studies have suggested that hormone therapy reduces the risk of coronary events in healthy postmenopausal women. However, recent clinical studies failed to show such beneficial effect. Among the mechanism that may account for the effects of hormone therapy on cardiovascular disease is inflammation.