Abstract
Background: Conflicting findings exist regarding the associations of sex hormones with subclinical atherosclerosis. Methods: This is a substudy from MESA of 881 postmenopausal women and 978 men who had both abdominal aortic calcification (AAC) quantified by computed tomography and sex hormone levels assessed [Testosterone (T), estradiol (E2), dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), and sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG)]. We examined the association of sex hormones with presence and extent of AAC. Results: For women, SHBG was inversely associated with both AAC presence [OR = 0.62, 95% CI 0.42-0.91 for 1 unit greater log(SHBG) level] and extent [0.29 lower log(AAC) for 1 unit greater log(SHBG) level, β = -0.29 (95% CI -0.57 to -0.006)] adjusting for age, race, hypertension, smoking, diabetes, BMI, physical activity, and other sex hormones. After further adjustment for total and HDL-cholesterol, SHBG was not associated with ACC presence or extent. In men, there was no association between SHBG and AAC. In both men and women, neither T, E2, nor DHEA was associated with AAC presence or extent. Conclusion: After adjustment for non-lipid cardiovascular risk factors, SHBG levels are inversely associated with both the presence and severity of AAC in women but not in men, which may be accounted for by HDL.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 432-438 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Atherosclerosis |
Volume | 200 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Oct 2008 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The authors thank the other investigators, the staff, and the participants of the MESA study for their valuable contributions. This research was supported by NHLBI RO1 HL074406, RO1 HL074338, R01 HL72403, and contracts N01-HC-95159 through N01-HC-95165 and N01-HC-95169 from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Dr. Michos is also funded by the PJ Schafer Foundation Preventive Cardiology award. A full list of participating MESA investigators and institutions can be found at http://www.mesa-nhlbi.org .
Keywords
- Abdominal aortic calcification
- Sex hormone binding globulin
- Sex hormones
- Subclinical atherosclerosis