At present, cardiovascular diseases cause ca. 30 of deaths worldwide, and are the most common cause of death and disability (The World Health Report 2002; Pearson 1999). Coronary artery disease (CAD) accounts for nearly 50 of all deaths caused by cardiovascular diseases. In 2002, 7.2 million people died of CAD worldwide, and 5.8 million new cases were diagnosed. In 2000, the number of people with CAD around the world amounted to ca. 40 millions (Mackay 2004). The modern understanding of the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis and the concept of “cardiovascular risk factors” started forming in 1950s, when the first findings of the Framingham study were published (Wilson et al. 1998, D’Agostino et al. 2000). Information accumulated during scientific research on atherosclerosis allowed for a significant reduction of CAD-related mortality in the developed countries during the last 20 years, but a more profound analysis showed that the mortality mostly decreased in males, whereas in females it continues to grow. Nearly two-thirds of suddenly deceased women previously showed no clinical symptoms of CAD (AHA 2002). This most probably was influenced by a still predominant erroneous opinion that women, especially of younger age, very rarely have CAD and atherosclerosis of peripheral arteries. Epidemiological studies showed that cardiovascular diseases induced by atherosclerosis are equally frequent cause of death in both males and females. Of all patients who in 2000 in the U.S. died... [to full text]