Cholesterol changes during menopause can spur heart disease, study indicates

During menopause, a woman's blood cholesterol changes in a way that could harm her heart health, a new study warns.

An increase in "bad" LDL cholesterol and a decrease in "good" HDL cholesterol occurs during menopause, according to research to be presented Monday at the European Society of Cardiology's annual meeting in London.

"Taken together, these changes suggest that menopause is associated with a transition to a higher-risk lipoprotein [cholesterol] profile that could be more likely to cause cardiovascular disease, such as coronary artery disease ," said researcher Dr. Stephanie Moreno , a resident with the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.

Heart disease is the biggest killer of women, causing 40% of all deaths in females, researchers noted.

Women tend to develop heart disease about 10 years later than men, with their risk rising dramatically after menopause.

But until now, it's been unclear why a woman's risk of heart disease accelerates following menopause.

For this study, researchers analyzed blood cholesterol levels in 1,246 women and 1,346 men participating in a long-term heart health study.

Of the women, 35% were premenopausal, 24% were menopausal and 41% were postmenopausal.

Over an average follow-up time of seven years, all three groups of women experienced an increase in "bad" LDL cholesterol.

However, the greatest percent change in LDL cholesterol occurred between menopause and postmenopause, with levels rising 8.3%, researchers found. Further, postmenopausal women also experienced a 4.8% decline in their levels of "good" HDL cholesterol.

Compared to men, the picture was not pretty: Menopausal women had a 213% increase in "bad" LDL cholesterol, results showed.

"We found that menopause is associated with adverse changes in lipoprotein profiles, with the most pronounced changes found to be in increases in 'bad' LDL-particles," Moreno said in a meeting news release.

"When looked at together, these changes could help explain the increase of cardiovascular disease in postmenopausal women and help determine if earlier interventions are warranted," Moreno added.

More research is needed to see if these changes in cholesterol directly translate to greater heart health risk, Moreno said.

Because these findings were presented at a medical meeting, they should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information

The American Heart Association has more about cholesterol .

SOURCE: European Society of Cardiology, news release, Aug. 27, 2024

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