Quantitative coronary plaque measurements do not carry the same prognostic meaning in women and men. Whether increasing plaque extent raises cardiovascular risk equivalently in both sexes has remained uncertain. To address this, a study compared cardiovascular risk patterns across coronary plaque measures in women and men by analyzing data from 4,267 patients (mean age, 60.4 years). The analysis found that plaque was less common in women than in men (55% vs 75%).
Women also had lower total plaque volume. However, overall plaque burden (PB) and the incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) were similar between the two groups (2.3% in women vs 3.4% in men). Notably, women experienced an increased risk of MACE at lower PB levels compared with men. For total plaque burden, women crossed a hazard ratio (HR) of 1.0 at 20% PB, whereas men reached this risk level at 28%.…
