ABSTRACT
During the second half of the twentieth century coronary heart disease (CHD) emerged as the single most common cause of death in both women and men in large parts of the industrialized world and is now the leading cause of death worldwide.1 Acute myocardial infarction (AMI), the irreversible loss of myocardial cells due to acute obstruction of an epicardial coronary vessel, is one of the most important manifestations of coronary disease. Although the incidence of AMI increases sharply with age, women are less prone to develop AMI than men at any given age, with an approximate 9-10-year difference between the sexes2-6 (Fig. 17.1). The sex difference in mortality and morbidity diminishes with age,
but even at ages between 75 and 85, the incidence is almost twofold in men compared with women.4
