Fasting Lipid Profile in Pre- and Post-Menopausal Women: A Prospective Study

Introduction and Aim: Menopause is a phase of woman’s natural aging process and is marked by the cessation of ovarian function. The increased incidence of cardiovascular risk in the post-menopausal women may partly be due to hormonal changes leading to derangement of lipid metabolism. The present study is aimed at determining the degree of dyslipidemia in preand post-menopausal women. Materials and Methods: This prospective study comprised 124 women, 47 pre-menopausal aged between 25 and 45 years and 77 post-menopausal aged between 55 and 70 years. Serum total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) direct, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and very LDL-C (VLDL-C) were evaluated in both the groups and data were statistically analyzed using SPSS software version 16. Results: In our study, we found significantly high levels of serum TC, serum TGs, serum LDL, and serum VLDL (234.77 ± 58.13 mg/dl, 156.86 ± 70.56 mg/dl, 146.49 ± 52.70 mg/dl, and 31.92 ± 13.76 mg/dl) in post-menopausal subjects when compared with premenopausal subjects (201.60 ± 48.50 mg/dl, 125.81 ± 69.96 mg/dl, 124.09 ± 42.71 mg/dl, and 25.28 ± 13.98 mg/dl). However, there was no statistically significant difference in the HDL-C fraction levels between the two groups. Conclusion: Post-menopausal women are at increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease due to change in the lipid pattern and loss of cardioprotective effect of estrogen. Predicting the factors affecting the lipid profile in post-menopausal women, adopting strategies to control these mechanisms by modifying the relative risk factors during menopausal transition may improve the cardiovascular risk profile in these women.