Women urged to reduce risk before menopause.(lower cholesterol to reduce heart disease risk)

2003 APR 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Women should make lifestyle changes and lower their cholesterol before menopause, when their risk for heart disease begins to increase, according to a study reported at the American Heart Association's 43rd Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention.

"The main message from this study is that the perimenopausal period is a key time for addressing primary prevention of heart disease in women, in terms of lifestyle changes and other interventions," said Carol Derby, PhD, assistant professor of neurology and of epidemiology and social medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, New York. "Even if everything else were constant and there were no age-related changes in heart disease risk factors, just crossing the age threshold will make a lot more people eligible for treatment, according to the latest guidelines."

Researchers applied the 2001 update of the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) Adult Treatment Panel (ATP III) guidelines for diagnosing and treating cholesterol disorders to a large group of perimenopausal women. "Perimenopausal" women are those who are approaching menopause, which may occur around age 55. The ATP III guidelines recognize that women older than age 55 may have an increased risk for heart disease.

Derby and her coworkers wanted to evaluate the number of perimenopausal women who would qualify for treatment of cholesterol disorders now, before menopause, and later, as they age. They analyzed data from the ongoing Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (SWAN), a long-term investigation of women's health during the middle years of life.

"The idea was to look at where the women are now, in terms of risk factors, and then try to predict where they will be when they reach age 55," said Derby. "Just by virtue of aging - if no other risk factors change - these women will be bumped into a different risk category according to the NCEP III guidelines once they reach age 55."

For their analysis, researchers applied the NCEP "greater than age 55" criterion to 1349 women ages 42-52. There were 653 whites, 424 African Americans, 98 Japanese, 90 Hispanics and 84 Chinese women. The evaluation considered the women's cholesterol values, blood pressure, body mass index (BMI), and other factors affecting heart disease risk.

Most had normal blood pressure, and 80% ...