Healthcare

A new study showed that cholesterol levels in women vary significantly throughout menstrual cycle.

The lead author of the study, Dr Sunni Mumford from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and colleagues write in their report, “Cyclic variation in lipoprotein-cholesterol levels observed in the present study may have clinical implication regarding the appropriate timing of lipoprotein-cholesterol measurement during the cycle and may need to be accounted for in the design and interpretation of studies in women of reproductive age”.

Published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism in June 9, 2010, the researchers assessed 250 healthy premenopausal women currently not taking oral contraceptives or other medication of the total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides.

According to the researchers, they found that total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides were highest during the follicular phase of the cycle and declined during the lutela phase among those women.

They explained, LDL cholesterol, for example, declined 4.9% from the midfollicular phase to the midluteal phase of the menstrual cycle, while total cholesterol declined 3.0%. HDL cholesterol levels were highest during ovulation but did not change during the other phases of the cycle.

Also, when assessed during the follicular phase of the cycle, 14% of women had high total-cholesterol levels, whereas 8% of women measured during the late luteal phase had total-cholesterol levels considered high.
Results were similar when assessing women with high LDL-cholesterol levels.

Dr. Mumford and colleagues write, “Although the total-cholesterol; and LDL changes onserved were modest, only 5% to 8%, on average, women [crossed] between clinical boundaries of acceptable levels. While treatment decisions regarding the lipid profile may still require repeated samples above the recommend level, standardizing the timing of lipid measurement may improve the interpretability of results and consequently reduce the overall number of tests.”