[Concentrations of adrenal steroids and sex hormones in postmenopausal women suffering from coronary artery disease].
The lack of the benefits in the prevention of coronary artery disease (CAD) from the hormonal substitution with preparations of estradiol (E2) suggests that higher frequency of CAD in postmenopausal women (PMW) may be influenced by a hormonal mechanism different from the postmenopausal hypoestrogenism.


OBJECTIVE
Due to the fact adrenal glands are the important source of steroids in PMW the aim of our research was the assessment of the concentrations of the adrenal hormones and their possible relations with CAD.


METHODS
W-CAD group--31 PMW at the age of 66 +/- 9 years with angiographically proven CAD; 3/4 of them suffered from myocardial infarction. W-H group--17 healthy women at the age of 59 +/- 7 years. Common clinical and biochemical risk factors were searched for in each and every of the PMW. In the venous blood samples taken from them by means of immunological methods the concentrations of the hormones were assessed: starving insulin, adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), E2, progesterone, testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS), cortisol, aldosterone, androstenedione, folliculotropic hormone and luteinising hormone. The levels of the hormones were compared between the groups. Logistic regression analysis was used to discover possible relations among the clinical and hormonal parameters and CAD.


RESULTS
In W-CAD mean concentration of DHEAS was lower than in W-H, close to the significant value (75 +/- 76 vs 102 +/- 79 microg/dl, p<0,08). In PMW with CAD mean concentration of cortisol (18 +/- 5 vs 15 +/- 6 microg/dl, p<0,07) and ACTH was higher, but mean concentration of aldosterone was more than twice as small as in the healthy ones. The levels of the rest aforementioned hormones were similar in the groups. In the univariate model created by logistic regression analysis DHEAS was the only hormone that revealed the significant relation between its level and the occurrence of CAD.


CONCLUSIONS
In PMW diminished concentration of DHEAS is correlated with occurrence of CAD. The differences of the concentrations of the other hormones between PMW with and without CAD need further observation.
Sablik
Zbigniew
Z
Uniwersytet Medyczny w Lodzi, Klinika Kardiologii I Katedry Kardiologii i Kardiochirurgii. zbyszek.lek1@poczta.fm
Samborska-Sablik
Anna
A
Goch
Jan Henryk
JH
D000305:Adrenal Cortex Hormones / Q000097:blood; D000368:Aged; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000097:blood*; D019314:Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D012739:Gonadal Steroid Hormones / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D017698:Postmenopause / Q000097:blood*; D012016:Reference Values; D012044:Regression Analysis
D000305:Adrenal Cortex Hormones; D012739:Gonadal Steroid Hormones; D019314:Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate