Prevention of coronary heart disease: a nonhormonal approach.

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is a common and serious health problem facing women as they move beyond the reproductive years. Until recently, many postmenopausal women and their physicians relied heavily on hormone therapy to prevent cardiovascular disease, neglecting the well-recognized nonhormonal aspects of cardiovascular health. Simple lifestyle changes--exercise, diet, weight control, and avoidance of tobacco--can significantly reduce the chance of heart disease and its major risk factors, which are essentially the same for men and women. As with men, obesity, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes are the major risk factors for heart disease in women. This review discusses the epidemiologic studies linking these risk factors to CHD in women, the guidelines for screening, and a brief overview of treatment recommendations.