Lipid profile differences during menopause: a review with meta-analysis
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Updated: Jan 18, 2026
An In Vivo Estrogen Deficiency Mouse Model for Screening Exogenous Estrogen Treatments of Cardiovascular Dysfunction After Menopause
Published on: August 13, 2019
Ananthan Ambikairajah1, Erin Walsh, Nicolas Cherbuin
1Centre for Research on Ageing, Health and Wellbeing, Research School of Population Health, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
Objectives:
The aim of the study was to determine lipid profile differences between premenopausal and postmenopausal women.
Methods:
The present review used a meta-analytic approach. Sixty-six studies were included, which provided a total sample of 114,655 women consisting of 68,394 that were premenopausal and 46,261 that were postmenopausal.
Results:
The main findings were that (1) lipoproteins were significantly higher in postmenopausal women compared to premenopausal women including triglycerides (0.27 mmol/L, 95% confidence interval, 0.22-0.31), total cholesterol (0.58, 0.50-0.65), low-density lipoprotein (0.45, 0.38-0.53), and total cholesterol to high-density lipoprotein levels (0.39, 0.16-0.62); (2) there was no difference in high-density lipoprotein levels between premenopausal and postmenopausal women (0.02, -0.00-0.04); and (3) the differences in lipid levels was partly attributable to the mean age difference between premenopausal and postmenopausal women.
Conclusions:
These findings are important as they provide precise estimates of lipid differences in women around menopause. Furthermore the results suggest that the unfavorable lipid profile that develops in postmenopausal women puts them at higher risk of cardiovascular disease such as heart disease and stroke if appropriate lifestyle/pharmacological interventions are not implemented.
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