Postgraduate medicine
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Postgraduate medicine · Apr 1989
ReviewWhy do women live longer than men? Biologic differences that influence longevity.
Women enjoy a natural relative immunity to coronary atherosclerosis compared with their male counterparts because of their sex hormone status, especially in the premenopausal years. This advantage is likely to be extended to the postmenopausal years by the current widespread prescription of estrogen (coupled with cyclic progestin) therapy. ⋯ Such behaviors are cessation of cigarette smoking, early detection and long-term control of hypertension, and early detection and long-term control of dyslipoproteinemia (as best reflected in the ratio of low-density lipoprotein to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol). Fortunately, the recent advent of effective dietary and, especially, drug therapy for both hypertension and dyslipoproteinemia makes such approaches to reducing male cardiovascular mortality feasible, effective, and of acceptable cost in both economic and personal terms.