Table 3.

CVD Prevention in Women: What We Have Learned in the Past Decade

Unknown in 2000	Known in 2011
Does menopausal hormone therapy prevent Incident CVD?	Menopausal hormone therapy does not prevent incident or recurrent CVD in women and increases risk of stroke^25–28
Do SERMs prevent incident or recurrent CVD?	SERMs do not prevent incident or recurrent CVD in women and increase risk of fatal stroke and VTE^29–32
Is aspirin effective for the primary prevention of CVD in women?	Aspirin does not prevent incident MI in women<65 y; aspirin prevents recurrent CVD and incident ischemic stroke and might prevent incident MI in women >65 y of age but increases risk of hemorrhagic strokes and GI bleeding^33–38
Do antioxidant supplements prevent incident or recurrent CVD?	Vitamins E and C and beta carotene do not prevent incident or recurrent CVD^39–42
Do folic acid and B vitamin supplements prevent incident or recurrent CVD?	Folic acid and B vitamin supplements do not prevent incident or recurrent CVD^43–47
Does omega-3 fatty acid supplementation prevent incident or recurrent CVD?	Omega-3 might prevent CVD in women with hypercholesterolemia but the absolute benefit is low^48–51
Does vitamin D and calcium supplementation prevent incident or recurrent CVD?	Combined vitamin D (400 IU daily) and calcium supplementation (1000 mg/d) do not reduce the risk of CVD, stroke, or mortality^52,53
Does intensive diabetic control prevent CVD?	Targeting HbA_1C <6% does not prevent CVD events in patients with diabetes mellitus and increases the risk of death⁵⁴
Is LDL reduction effective for the primary prevention of CVD in women?	LDL reduction reduces recurrent events and might reduce incident events in women, but the absolute benefit for primary prevention is small^55–61

CVD indicates cardiovascular disease; SERM, selective estrogen receptor modulator; VTE, venous thromboembolism; MI, myocardial infarction; GI, gastrointestinal; HbA_1C, hemoglobin A_1C; and LDL, low-density lipoprotein.