Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in women. We suggest the need to develop a paradigm that connects sex- and age-specific nontraditional risk factors that serve as a common mechanism ultimately leading to an increased risk of cardiovascular events. Vascular injury with abnormal repair leading to functional, rather than structural, abnormalities can be regarded as accelerated vascular aging. It emerges as a common feature that can trigger the early diagnosis and risk stratification for cardiovascular disease in women. We discuss sex-specific risk factors that can contribute to vascular injury with age, and these might not always be considered by cardiovascular physicians. It is important for the primary physician to be aware of these risk factors to enable more intensified management of this at-risk population. Novel technologies that allow the assessment of vascular function noninvasively can serve as key diagnostic and therapeutic tools with which we can identify such individuals and target therapy to manage this important patient population appropriately and effectively. We hope that this article will stimulate interest in this field and encourage further research in these important areas.

中文翻译：

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内皮血管功能可替代女性的血管风险和衰老。

心血管疾病是女性发病和死亡的主要原因。我们建议有必要建立一种将性别和年龄特定的非传统危险因素联系起来的范例，这种危险因素是导致心血管事件风险增加的共同机制。具有异常修复作用而导致功能性而非结构性异常的血管损伤可视为加速的血管老化。它作为一个共同特征出现，可以触发女性心血管疾病的早期诊断和危险分层。我们讨论了随年龄增长可能导致血管损伤的特定性别危险因素，心血管医生可能并不总是考虑这些因素。对于主治医师而言，重要的是要意识到这些风险因素，以使该高风险人群的管理更加严格。允许无创评估血管功能的新技术可以用作关键的诊断和治疗工具，借助这些技术，我们可以识别出此类个体并进行靶向治疗，从而适当，有效地管理这一重要的患者人群。我们希望本文能够激发人们对该领域的兴趣，并鼓励在这些重要领域进行进一步的研究。