Estradiol/Testosterone Imbalance: Impact on Coronary Heart Disease Risk Factors in Postmenopausal Women
Cardiology, 05/08/2012  Clinical Article

Dai W et al. – The balance of the serum E2/T ratio was broken in the women with coronary heart disease (CHD), and an imbalanced E2/T ratio showed a strong association with cardiovascular risk factors in postmenopausal women with CHD.

• 114 controls and 124 postmenopausal women with CHD were selected for this study.
• Serum levels of estradiol, testosterone, aromatase, sex hormone–binding globulin (SHBG), lipid–lipoprotein profile and high–sensitivity C–reactive protein were determined.

• Compared with the control, the E2/T ratio decreased from 5.35 ± 2.78 to 3.88 ± 2.51 (p < 0.0001).
• Multiple linear regression analysis showed that the E2/T ratio was negatively associated with total cholesterol, low–density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL–c) and the atherogenic index of plasma, but positively associated with high–density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL–c) and HDL–c/LDL–c (for all, p < 0.0001).
• Authors found that there was a negative correlation between the E2/T ratio and aromatase (r = –0.192, p = 0.032) and a positive correlation between aromatase and SHBG (r = 0.938).