[Oestrogen as a risk factor for the vascular system (author's transl)]

Plasma oestradiol and testosterone concentrations were measured in 44 men with angiographically proven coronary heart disease, 66 men without evidence of coronary heart disease serving as control. Another group consisted of 28 men with renal failure. Those with coronary heart disease had a significantly higher oestradiol concentration than the control group. This increased value also was present in patients with renal failure. There was a relationship between the level of oestradiol on one hand and glucose tolerance, ratio of beta to alpha-lipoproteins and blood pressure, on the other, in both the patients with coronary heart disease and the healthy controls. These results indicate the oestradiol may in males be an indicator of a risk constellation of vascular damage. Perhaps, it may be the cause of an abnormal carbohydrate and fat metabolism, which then leads to hypertension and degenerative vascular lesions.