It has become increasingly apparent in recent years that there are important gender differences in the presentation and clinical course of many cardiovascular disorders.
In general, recent advances in medical intervention ameliorate morbidity and mortality of ischemic heart disease (IHD), however, IHD remains the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in postmenopausal women presumably because of the lack of awareness of the characteristics that specifically observed in the peri-menopausal age.
In 2016, in response to the need to be aware of the potential to prevent the development of the cardiovascular disease from the peri-menopausal women, the American Heart Association and the Japanese Association for Gender Specific Medicine issued the clinical statement for the prevention of peri-menopausal women from IHD.
One of the characteristics of the “women’s IHD” is known as “Cardiac syndrome X” due to the coronary microvascular dysfunction. Notably, recent studies revealed that patients with cardiac syndrome X frequently have coronary plaque and face a 2.5% annual adverse cardiac event rate. However, few data allow us to make these Caucasian evidences generalized into Asian population. Beyond IHD, it has been well-recognized that the menopaused woman is one of the primary risk factors for HFpEF and there are specific gender-associated differences in electrophysiology, which presumably link to the risk of arrhythmias.
Thus, it is important for all health-care professionals dealing with women, particularly in midlife, to be cognizant of the gender-specific risk measures. This session invites the world-class experts in the area of gender medicine to facilitate the awareness of the need for the practical approach in the modern population thereby explore the updated cardiovascular evidences of gender-specific difference in Japan.