If eNOS stimulation rely on partly different mechanisms in men and women under normal physiological conditions, women after menopause would be more susceptible/vulnerable to any additional factors that impair eNOS function and NO bioavailability than men, and this could offer a putative explanation to why the combined effect of T2DM and the Asp298 allele is stronger in women than in men in our survey. This evidence concerns the gene NOS3 and type 2 diabetes mellitus.