Abstract

Postmenopausal women are more prone to develop cardiac morbidity due to exhaustive productionof estrogens. Postmenopausal women may have 3-4 fold greater risk of atherosclerosis after a natural menopause.Objectives: To find correlation between biochemical and physical parameters after the onset of menopause and theireffects on disease process in the postmenopausal women. Design: Prospective Study. Setting: PGMI Lahore. Period:From Jan 2000 to Oct 2000. Material & Methods: 75 subjects were enrolled in this study and divided into three groupsi.e. premenopausal (control), early postmenopausal and late postmenopausal groups. Their physical parameters likeweight, waist to hip ratio (WHR) and blood pressure were taken. Biochemical parameters, like cholesterol, triglycerides,high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) were estimated bycommercial scientific kits. Results: Biochemical parameters were mostly non-significant changed (P > 0.05) whilephysical parameters were deviated significantly (P < 0.001) when comparisons were made between mean values ofvarious study groups. Conclusion: Even at normal values of lipid profile, the postmenopausal women are at risk ofdeveloping atherosclerotic lesions because of hypertension, obesity, exhaustive production of estrogen and androidtype of body fat distribution.