Greater rise in CVD risk factors seen for women during menopause vs. same-age men

Levels of cholesterol, triglycerides and other serum components that indicate CVD risk increased for women in Japan who underwent menopause in the past 15 years, according to longitudinal data published in Menopause.

“Cross-sectional studies have shown that cardiovascular risk factors such as blood pressure, serum total cholesterol, [and] high-density lipoprotein cholesterol … before menopause age differed from those after menopause age, and concordantly, cohort studies have reported that women who experienced early menopause, a short reproductive period or bilateral ovariectomy had higher overall mortality and increased risk and mortality from cardiovascular disease,” Saki Teramura, MSc, of the department of public health medicine at the University of Tsukuba in Japan, and colleagues wrote.  Read more in Healio.