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An In Vivo Estrogen Deficiency Mouse Model for Screening Exogenous Estrogen Treatments of Cardiovascular Dysfunction After Menopause
Published on: August 13, 2019
Preventing clinically evident coronary heart disease in the postmenopausal woman
1Cardiovascular Division, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA. fwelty@caregroup.harvard.edu
Insights
Postmenopausal women face significant coronary heart disease risks. Statins are recommended as first-line therapy for lipid management, while estrogen therapy is not advised for cardiovascular prevention.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Endocrinology
- Women's Health
Background:
- Menopause is associated with atherogenic dyslipidemias.
- These lipid changes often cluster with other cardiovascular risk factors.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review coronary heart disease risk factors in postmenopausal women.
- To evaluate pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic therapies for prevention and treatment.
Main Methods:
- Comprehensive Medline searches were conducted.
- Included studies focused on risk factors, lipid levels, therapies, and clinical trial endpoints.
Main Results:
- Estrogen therapy is not recommended for cardiovascular disease prevention.
- Statins effectively reduce cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.
- Statins are the preferred first-line therapy for lipid-lowering.
Conclusions:
- Obstetrician-gynecologists play a key role in managing cardiovascular risk factors in postmenopausal women.
- Statins should be the primary strategy for lipid-lowering.
- Estrogen therapy should be limited to managing menopausal symptoms.
Objective:
This review summarizes data on the prevalent coronary heart disease risk factors of postmenopausal women and the pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic therapies available for preventing or treating them.
Design:
Medline searches from 1966 on were used to identify manuscripts for coronary heart disease risk factor information, lipid levels as predictors of cardiovascular disease in women, non-pharmacologic therapies, side effects of statins, and lipid-lowering trials that included women and had myocardial infarction or coronary heart disease death as endpoints.
Results:
Dyslipidemias that occur with menopause are particularly atherogenic and tend to cluster with other metabolic and nonmetabolic risk factors. Estrogen therapy, with or without progestogen, can no longer be recommended for primary or secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease in postmenopausal women. Statins have been effective in reducing cardiovascular-related morbidity and mortality and should be first-line therapy for lipid-lowering.
Conclusions:
A considerable number of women look to obstetricians-gynecologists for primary care. For postmenopausal women especially, primary care must include management of risk factors for coronary heart disease. Estrogen or estrogen plus progestin should be used only for symptomatic hot flashes and at the lowest dose possible. Statins should be first-line therapy in preventive strategies for lipid-lowering.
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