Sex steroid hormones and subclinical atherosclerosis progression in postmenopausal women.

This article focuses on the relationship between serum sex steroid hormones, sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), and the progression of subclinical atherosclerosis in postmenopausal women, emphasizing differences based on time since menopause. Using data from the Early versus Late Intervention Trial with Estradiol (ELITE), the study found that higher levels of estradiol, estrone, and SHBG were associated with slower carotid artery intima-media thickness (CIMT) progression in women who initiated hormone therapy (HT) within six years of menopause (early postmenopause), whereas in women ten or more years postmenopause (late postmenopause), these hormone levels correlated with faster CIMT progression. Testosterone levels showed no significant association with CIMT progression. These findings underscore the importance of timing in HT initiation and suggest that the vascular effects of sex hormones and SHBG vary depending on the postmenopausal period, which may inform personalized cardiovascular risk management in postmenopausal women.