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Estrogen Spares Women’s Hearts, Risks Men’s

Estrogen, one of the sex hormones most closely associated with females, has long been thought to offer women protection from cardiovascular disease and is one of the main reasons many women undergo hormone replacement therapy when the body’s natural supply of estrogen diminishes after menopause.  A recent study reveals that men, too, feel the heart-associated effects of the estrogen their bodies make.  It’s just that, like so many other gender differences, the effect is different between the sexes.  The more estrogen in the bloodstreams of men, the more likelihood of developing heart disease.

Dr. Maciej Tomaszewski, a lecturer on cardiovascular medicine at the University of Leicester’s Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, says men may actually be disadvantaged by the effect of their own estrogen stores and his recent research strengthens that theory.  His research findings are available online in the journal, Atherosclerosis.

To study the effects of four sex hormones - androstenedione, estradiol, estrone, and testosterone - on three factors closely associated with heart disease - blood pressure, cholesterol, and weight - Tomaszewski and his colleagues enlisted 933 apparently healthy young men, 19 years of age, on average, who supplied samples of their blood for analysis.

The research team found a higher risk of heart disease from several factors when a man’s estrogen levels are highest.  Estradiol, when present in high concentrations, was linked positively to elevated overall cholesterol levels and to diminished amounts of high-density lipoproteins, the good HDL-form of cholesterol.  Estrone was found to be associated with elevated levels of both total cholesterol and low-density lipoproteins, the bad LDL-form of cholesterol associated with heart disease.

The research revealed a means of identifying the increased risk of heart disease at a stage before more serious symptoms of cardiovascular disease are in evidence.  By identifying the young men most at risk of developing cardiovascular disease in adulthood, preventive treatments can be administered that may perhaps halt or reverse the progression of the disease.  Even more importantly, the research team was able to determine that individual sex hormones act independently of the other sex hormones and of other risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease, such as age, blood pressure, and weight.

The research team is unable, at this point, to determine why the estrogens have a different effect between the genders but further research is already under way.

Source: University of Leicester

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