Related Experiment Videos
Plasma lipids, lipoproteins and apolipoproteins in hirsute women
C Castelo-Branco1, E Casals, M J Martinez de Osaba
1Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Hospital Clinic i Provincial, Barcelona, Spain.
Objective:
To determine whether lipid alterations in hirsute women are due to excessive androgen, low estrogen or to a combination of these abnormalities.
Design:
Cross sectional study.
Patients:
Forty-five hirsute women between 15 and 39 years of age.
Main Outcome Measures:
FSH, LH, 17beta-estradiol, PRL, testosterone, androstenedione, triglycerides and apolipoproteins A-I and B.
Results:
Testosterone was correlated with triglycerides (r: 0.76, p<0.01), HDL (r: -0.61, P<0.01) and LDL (r: 0.50, p<0.05). Both HDL (r: 0.66, p<0.01) and LDL (r: -0.57, p<0.01) were correlated with estradiol. Total cholesterol was also correlated with estradiol (r: -0.52, p<0.05). Cross adjusted correlations revealed that, after adjusting for estradiol, lipids were associated with testosterone and that estradiol was also correlated with lipids when adjusted for testosterone.
Conclusion:
The results suggest that altered lipids in women with hyperandrogenism could result from independent effects of androgens and estrogens.