ABSTRACT
Obesity and overweight are common conditions that greatly increase the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in women and men, both directly and through associated conditions.1,2 During the second half of the twentieth century, the prevalence of obesity grew to epidemic proportions in several industrialized nations. Of major concern is that women appear to be at particular risk, with postmenopausal women, Mexican-American and nonHispanic black women having the highest rates of obesity in the United States. Moreover, epidemic-logic data show that increased adiposity has a greater relative impact on cardiovascular risk in women than it has in men.3
