Relation of aging and sex hormones to metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease

Several factors such as age, gender, race, lifestyle and diet, contribute to the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome, which has become the new epidemic of this century. They also contribute to the prevalence, age of appearance and outcome of cardiovascular disease, which is the number one cause of morbidity and mortality in men and women worldwide. Metabolic syndrome increases the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases, hypertension and type-2 diabetes, among other diseases. In this paper we analyze from a pathogenetic point of view, two of the factors which contribute to the increasing prevalence of the metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular diseases: age and gender. The gender variations are a consequence of the different rate of decrease of sexual hormones in males and females and of the protective roles they play during adulthood and older age phases. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.