Women may benefit in the long-term if they make an effort to lower their cholesterol before they reach age 55.

It's well known that a woman's chances of developing heart disease increase quite sharply after the menopause. This is at least partly due to a fall in levels of estrogen.

A new study suggests that if women take action to reduce their risk factors before they reach menopause they will benefit more in the long term. Researchers studied a group of 1,349 women of varying ethnic origin and aged between 42 and 52. Overall, these women were healthy, with normal cholesterol levels, though they tended to be overweight. The researchers calculated the percentage in each group who could benefit from lifestyle changes and/or cholesterol lowering drugs. This range from 19 per cent of Hispanic women to five per cent of Chinese women.

Given that all heart disease risk factors tend to increase - sometimes very sharply - as a woman reaches 55 or so, it may be worthwhile targetting modifications to women who are younger than this, the researchers say.

Source

American Heart Association Conference 7th March 2003