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Taken from WWW.pubmed.gov (testosterone studies)
Am J Epidemiol. 2002 Mar 1;155(5):437-45.
Endogenous postmenopausal hormones and carotid atherosclerosis: a case-control study
of the atherosclerosis risk in communities cohort.
Golden SH, Maguire A, Ding J, Crouse JR, Cauley JA, Zacur H, Szklo M.
Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 1830 East Monument Street, Suite 333, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA. sahill@jhmi.edu.
Studies examining the relation between endogenous postmenopausal hormone levels and cardiovascular
disease have yielded conflicting results. After excluding women with a history of hormone replacement
therapy (HRT) use, the authors conducted a US case-control study in 1987-1992 comparing endogenous
postmenopausal hormone levels in women with and without significant carotid atherosclerosis in the
Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) cohort. Atherosclerosis was assessed by using B-mode
ultrasound to measure carotid artery intimal-medial thickness (IMT). Cases (n = 182) were postmenopausal
women with average IMT measurements greater-than-or-equal the 95th percentile. Controls (n = 182)
were frequency matched to cases on age and ARIC center and had IMT measurements < the 75th percentile.
After adjustment for cardiovascular risk factors, no association was found between the odds of
atherosclerosis and increasing quartiles of estrone, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, or androstenedione.
Compared with participants in the lowest quartile of sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), those in
the highest quartile had a significantly lower odds of atherosclerosis (odds ratio = 0.48, 95%
confidence interval: 0.24, 0.97). Similarly, participants in the highest quartile of total testosterone
had a lower odds of atherosclerosis (odds ratio = 0.38, 95% confidence interval: 0.20, 0.74).
The authors found higher total testosterone and SHBG to be inversely related to carotid
atherosclerosis, suggesting their potential importance in reducing atherosclerotic risk in
postmenopausal women not using HRT.
PMID: 11867355 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
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