title: Low- and standard-estrogen dosage in oral therapy: dose-dependent effects on insulin and lipid metabolism in healthy postmenopausal women.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the influences of different doses of daily oral unopposed 17beta-estradiol compared with placebo, both on glucose tolerance and lipid metabolism in healthy postmenopausal women.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-eight normoinsulinemic postmenopausal women were enrolled in the study. Patients were assigned to receive randomly 1 mg (group A) or 2 mg (group B) of oral micronized estradiol therapy daily or to the placebo (group C), for 12 weeks.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The low-dose estradiol treatment determined an improvement of the peripheral insulin sensitivity, made evident by a significant increase both in the metabolic index and oral glucose insulin sensitivity index (p < 0.01 and p < 0.05, respectively) as well as a decrease in the homeostasis model assessment-estimated insulin resistance (p < 0.01). Conversely, in the standard-dose group, the metabolic index significantly decreased (p < 0.05), showing a slight deterioration in insulin sensitivity. For lipid metabolism, the 1 mg dose showed a neutral effect, while 2 mg had a beneficial effect on low density lipoprotein cholesterol, but caused an increase in triglycerides (p < 0.01 and p < 0.05, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The oral low dose of unopposed estradiol therapy had a favorable effect on glycoinsulinemic metabolism in healthy postmenopausal women; however, the standard dose caused a slight but significant deterioration in insulin sensitivity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Villa
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sagnella
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Perri
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Suriano
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Costantini
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Macrí
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ricciardi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lanzone
mesh_terms: D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000187:drug effects; D050260:Carbohydrate Metabolism / Q000187:drug effects; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL / Q000097:blood; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004958:Estradiol / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000494:pharmacology; D015914:Estrogen Replacement Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007328:Insulin / Q000097:blood*; D007558:Italy; D050356:Lipid Metabolism / Q000187:drug effects*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012016:Reference Values; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000097:blood; D016387:Women's Health
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL; D007328:Insulin; D014280:Triglycerides; C014529:estradiol-3-glucoside; D004958:Estradiol