Extent of coronary atherosclerosis and arterial remodelling in women: the NHLBI-sponsored Women’s Ischemia Syndrome Evaluation

Ischemic heart disease (IHD) is the leading cause of mortality in women at all ages in the Western world (1-3). When a diagnosis of IHD is established, women are less likely to be treated with established medical therapies and suffer greater adverse outcomes compared to men (4-8). Given an under-representation in clinical studies of IHD, little is known about the natural history and pathogenesis of atherosclerotic coronary disease in women (9)