[Effect of low doses of estrogens in menopausal women]

The effect of hormonal therapy in serum glucose, lipoproteins and the hemostatic system was studied in menopausal women, who were distributed in three groups: Group I (15 patients) received placebo in cycles of 21 days, followed by 7 days of rest; Group II (16 patients), received natural estrogens conjugated with progesterone in a sequential way, also in cycles of 21 days: Group III (16 patients), was treated with triphasic oral contraceptives in the same cyclical fashion. The patients completed 6, 12 or 18 cycles of the treatment. The results were as follows: The glucose levels were decreased by the 18th cycle in group II (P < 0.01). The HDL-cholesterol levels and the cholesterol/HDL cholesterol index were unchanged, however the basal levels of LDL-cholesterol in group III were high, but normal after 12 cycles of treatment. The coagulation factors did not changed significantly with the hormonal treatment, however fibrinogen was increased after 18 cycles under placebo. The von Willebrand factor and antithrombin III remained stable. Platelet aggregation with ADP increased after 12 cycles in group III (p < 0.05), and no changes were found with collagen. The above results suggest that the hormonal treatment in menopausal women, either with natural estrogens and progesterone or with triphasic oral contraceptives, has little effect in the lipidic concentrations of sera in these patients, however it can increase platelet activity, specially with prolonged treatment with semisynthetic estrogens.