United States: A new study warns that menopause can affect a woman’s heart health by changing her blood cholesterol levels. During menopause, the “bad” LDL cholesterol goes up, and the “good” HDL cholesterol goes down.
As reported by Health Day, This can make women more likely to get heart problems, like coronary artery disease. Dr. Stephanie Moreno from the University of Texas says these changes mean menopause can lead to a higher risk of heart disease.
Heart Disease: A Leading Killer
Also the heart disease is the biggest killer of the women which cause 40 percent of the deaths in the females noted by the researchers.
Women who tend to develop the heart disease about the 10 years or later than the men and with their risk of rising dramatically after the menopause but until now it’s been unclear why a woman’s risk of the heart disease accelerates the following menopause.
Study Findings
For this particular study the researchers analyzed the blood cholesterol levels in the 1,246 women and almost 1,346 men in participating in a long -term heart health study.
Also of the women almost 35 percent were premenopausal and 24 percent were almost menopausal and 41 percent were postmenopausal.
Over an average follow-up time of the seven years all the three groups of the women experienced an increase in “bad” LDL cholesterol.
Research Implications
However, the greatest percent change in LDL cholesterol occurred between menopause and post menopause, with levels rising 8.3%, researchers found. Further, postmenopausal women also experienced a 4.8% decline in their levels of “good” HDL cholesterol.
“In the process of studying lipoprotein changes during menopause, we have identified that the detrimental alteration is those related to the so-called ‘bad’ LDL-particles, and that the worsening of these parameters is most significantly in the postmenopausal period in women,” Moreno said in a meeting news release.
‘When viewed collectively these alterations may assist clarify why cardiovascular disease rates in postmenopausal females are on the increase and might help to aid in understanding if additional preventive steps are needed,’ Moreno said.
More research is needed to see if these changes in cholesterol directly correlate with greater heart health risk, Moreno said.
As these observations were made during presentation at a medical meeting their interpretation remain preliminary until these data are printed in a peer reviewed journal literature.