What is atherosclerosis?
One type of cardiovascular disease includes physical blockages that can stop blood flow in the coronary vessels and cause ischemia of the
heart muscle. When this is severe and sudden, this is what is commonly referred to as
myocardial infarction or a "heart attack." However, years of
coronary artery disease typically precede the attack with gradual narrowing and blocking of the blood vessels. The blockages are formed by
lipid or
cholesterol deposits that cause inflammation and form plaques. These plaques calcify, block the vessels, and limit blood flow to the heart muscle. This process is called
atherosclerosis. The plaques can also rupture, releasing a thrombus or clot that can block blood flow downstream and cause ischemia (decreased oxygen delivery to tissues) elsewhere in the heart or brain.
Because the body was not designed to have high levels of cholesterol (specifically LDL) in the blood, immune cells called macrophages move it into the blood vessel walls to get it out of the circulation. In this process, it becomes oxidized, and this is what triggers the inflammatory process. The macrophages become overwhelmed with the oxidized LDL, try to engulf it, becoming "foam cells." These foam cells trigger the need for further "clean up," and the body tries to sequester the unhealthy foam cells and forms a hard plaque around it. These plaques cause further inflammation within the tissue of the artery wall; this is how atherosclerosis progresses.
There are differences between how atherosclerosis develops in men and women.
https://www.medicinenet.com/heart_disease_in_women/article.htm
