Why are women more likely than men to have Syndrome X?
It is not completely clear why women are more likely than men to suffer from Syndrome X; however, hormones and other risk factors unique to women may play a role. Women’s blood vessels are exposed to changing levels of estrogen throughout their lives, first during regular menstrual cycles and later during and after menopause as estrogen levels decline with age. Estrogen affects how blood vessels narrow and widen and how they respond to injury, so changes in estrogen levels mean changes in the behavior of the blood vessels. Women’s vessels may be “programmed” for more changes than men’s vessels, which could increase the risk of having problems in the lining of the arteries ( endothelium) and the smooth muscles in the walls of the arteries. Many women in the WISE study had evidence of damage to the smooth muscle in the small arteries. In addition to changing hormone levels, there are several other risk conditions for blood vessel problems that are unique to women, such as preeclampsia (a
