According to research released on Tuesday, women going through the menopause transition period are likely to undergo alterations that could be harmful to their cardiovascular health. Despite the misconception that cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a "man's disease," it is the main cause of mortality for women, accounting for 40% of all fatalities in this population. Women are more likely to acquire heart disease after menopause, even though they usually develop CVD ten years later than men.
Know about the recent study
“There is an increase in ‘bad’ low-density type lipoprotein (LDL) particles and a decrease in ‘good’ high-density lipoprotein particles (HDL) that takes place during and after the menopause transition,” said study author Dr Stephanie Moreno, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, US.
“Taken together, these changes suggest that menopause is associated with a transition to a higher-risk lipoprotein profile that could be more likely to cause cardiovascular disease, such as coronary artery disease,” she added.
The study analysed changes in lipoprotein particles during the menopause transition in 1,246 participants. They measured common lipoproteins associated with CVD, including atherogenic LDL-P and small dense LDL.
The researchers compared longitudinal changes in lipoprotein measures between pre-, peri-, and post-menopausal women and men as well using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technology.
The results showed that all three female groups had an increase in LDL-P, with the greatest per cent change between the peri and post groups.
Compared to men, whose per cent change was 213 per cent, small-dense LDL had a higher per cent change in the peri-group. Compared to both pre and post-menopausal populations, this percentage change is approximately 15 per cent higher.
“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 and subfractions observed for peri-menopausal women,” Moreno said.
The findings may help explain the rise of heart disease in post-menopausal women and help determine if earlier interventions are warranted, said the team calling for more studies.
The findings will be presented in the forthcoming meeting of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress 2024 from August 30 to September 2 in the UK.
(With IANS Inputs)
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