Diseases of the thoracic aorta in women.

Women have now equaled or surpassed men in the number of cardiovascular deaths per year in published statistics. In 2006, according to the National Center for Health Statistics and the Center for Disease Control, cardiovascular disease was the cause of death in 428,906 women (35% of all deaths in women) and in 394,840 men (33% of all deaths in men). Of those numbers, it was estimated that 5506 women (0.4% of all deaths in women) and 7732 men (0.6%) died because of aortic aneurysm or dissection. Currently, aortic disease ranks as the 19th leading cause of death with reported increases in incidence. Historically, aortic disease is thought to affect men more frequently than women with a varying reported gender ratio. Gender bias has long been implicated as an important factor, but often overlooked, in the analysis and interpretation of cardiovascular diseases outcome, in part, because of the under-representation of women in clinical trials and studies. In this section, we provide an up-to-date review of the epidemiology and management of common diseases of the thoracic aorta, focusing on the differences and similarities in women and men.