Abstract 16851: Lipid Profile Differences Among Premenopausal and Postmenopausal African American Women and Implications for Treatment Per Guideline

Abstract

Introduction: Postmenopausal women have an increased cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk compared to premenopausal women. Though literature demonstrates a relationship between abnormal CVD risk factor patterns, namely lipids, and menopause, less is known about this association in minority racial and ethnic groups. Examining this association in African Americans (AA) is important because they experience disproportionate CVD outcomes. Moreover, recent studies have shown that AA eligible for statin therapy were less likely to receive treatment. Hypothesis: Postmenopausal women are more likely to have a more abnormal lipid profile compared to premenopausal women. Methods: A cohort of 962 women (mean age 50 ± 14 years) from the 10,000 Women Project were categorized into self-declared premenopausal (n = 475, mean age 40 ± 9.8 years) and postmenopausal (n= 487, mean age 61 ± 9.1 years) groups. Data was obtained at community health screening events through self-declared health history surveys. Lipid profiles were obtained through a non-fasting point-of-care cholesterol test. Several CVD risk factors were compared among these groups that include serum total cholesterol (TC), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL), triglycerides (TG), pooled cohort Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease (ASCVD) 10-year risk of heart disease or stroke score, BMI, waist circumference, and blood pressure. Student’s T test was utilized for statistical analysis. Results: Cholesterol testing revealed a significant increase in serum TC (p < 0.0001), LDL (p = 0.0001), and TG (p = 0.001) in the postmenopausal group compared to the premenopausal group. Interestingly, there was also a significant increase in serum HDL in the postmenopausal group (p = 0.0081). Additionally, the ASCVD risk score, which is heavily weighted on age, was significantly higher in the postmenopausal group compared to the premenopausal group (p < 0.0001). Conclusion: Menopause is associated with a more abnormal lipid profile and an elevated ASCVD risk score in AA women which places this group at a higher risk of CVD. Prioritizing lipid management, by adhering to cholesterol treatment guidelines, may assist with CVD risk reduction in this high-risk group.