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Study: Menopause not associated with women’s heart disease risk

Category: Heart Health and Cholesterol

Cholesterol testing often shows that older women are at risk for a heart attack or stroke, but what is the cause of this correlation? A new study from a team of Johns Hopkins University researchers suggests that menopause has nothing to do with the link.

For years, experts have assumed that the hormonal changes associated with menopause could possibly account for the increased risk of cardiovascular complications in older women. Other diseases, such as breast cancer, are definitely impacted by the hormonal changes that occurring during menopause, so it stood to reason that heart disease may also be affected.

However, after examining the medical records of women from between 1916 and 1941, the researchers found little evidence to corroborate this belief. In fact, they suggested that the simple facts of aging may be enough to account for the entire increase in cardiovascular risk among older women.

"What we believe is going on is that the cells of the heart and arteries are aging like every other tissue in the body, and that is why we see more and more heart attacks every year as women age,” said Dhananjay Vaidya, who led the study. “Aging itself is an adequate explanation."