For example, the prevalence of hypertension in adults <45 years of age is lower in women than men, but hypertension becomes increas- ingly prevalent and is higher in postmenopausal women than men after the age of 55 years, which suggests an important role of sex hormones in the regulation of BP.1 The lifetime risk of developing hypertension in the United States is 29% for women and 31% for men1 ; however, 75% of women >60 years of age become hypertensive.2 Age-adjusted hypertension prevalence, both diagnosed and undiagnosed, from 1999 to 2002 was 78% for older women and only 64% for older men.111 Sex differences in the pattern of prescribed antihyperten- sive medications have been seen across several large studies. For example, in the Framingham Heart Study, 38% of women but only 23% of men were prescribed thiazide diuretics,112 and similar rates were seen in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) cohorts, with higher diuretic (31.6% versus 22.3%) and angiotensin receptor blocker Currently, there is no compelling evidence that there are differences in the response to BP medications between the ; however, in large-scale reviews that examined the efficacy of -blockers, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibi- tors, angiotensin receptor blockers, and diuretics,114 there is no mention that sex-specific efficacy end points were evaluated or even considered. The possibility of differences in efficacy of BP medications therefore exists. Some studies have suggested that antihypertensive medica- tion use is significantly higher among women than men (61.4% versus 56.8%). Among treated hypertensive people, the pro- portion taking 3 antihypertensive drugs was lower among women than men, especially among older people (60 69 years of treated women achieved BP control versus 51.1% of treated Notably, hypertensive women are significantly more likely to be treated than men but less likely to have achieved BP control. 