Pregnancy acts as an important screening opportunity for CVD
Cardiovascular disease (CVD), the most common cause of death in most developed countries, have gender-specific characteristics. Protective effect of endogenous estrogen for CVD is established. In older ages, women have similar rates of CVD, and even a higher prevalence of hypertension than that of men. Although CVD is considered as a "man's disease", CVD kills more women. Most of our knowledge about management guidelines for CVD in women arise from studies conducted mostly in men. The increasing number of women with CVD shows the substantial need for identification of those specific variables relevant to cardiovascular health in women. Whether pregnancy-related factors and hysterectomy would reveal some of these variables and risk for CVD, is still uncertain.
