Evaluating the Roles of Estrogen and Progesterone in Heart Metabolism

Summary

Estrogen and progesterone are two main female sex hormones. When a woman goes through menopause, the body's production of estrogen and progesterone significantly decreases. Recent studies have shown that the breakdown of fatty acids in cardiac muscle is important in maintaining a healthy heart, and that estrogen may enhance this process. Also, cardiovascular disease (CVD) occurs more frequently in postmenopausal women than in premenopausal women. This study will determine in postmenopausal women whether estrogen increases the heart's ability to use fats as energy and whether progesterone decreases this effect.

Timeline

Start

2004-08

Primary completion

2008-01

Completion

2008-01

Publications

• Background Castelli WP. Cardiovascular disease in women. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 1988 Jun;158(6 Pt 2):1553-60, 1566-7. doi: 10.1016/0002-9378(88)90189-5.
• Background Bokhari S, Bergmann SR. The effect of estrogen compared to estrogen plus progesterone on the exercise electrocardiogram. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2002 Sep 18;40(6):1092-6. doi: 10.1016/s0735-1097(02)02111-3.
• Background Babiker FA, De Windt LJ, van Eickels M, Grohe C, Meyer R, Doevendans PA. Estrogenic hormone action in the heart: regulatory network and function. Cardiovasc Res. 2002 Feb 15;53(3):709-19. doi: 10.1016/s0008-6363(01)00526-0.
• Background Petrie MC, Dawson NF, Murdoch DR, Davie AP, McMurray JJ. Failure of women's hearts. Circulation. 1999 May 4;99(17):2334-41. doi: 10.1161/01.cir.99.17.2334. No abstract available.
• Background McKee PA, Castelli WP, McNamara PM, Kannel WB. The natural history of congestive heart failure: the Framingham study. N Engl J Med. 1971 Dec 23;285(26):1441-6. doi: 10.1056/NEJM197112232852601. No abstract available.

Drugs

Indications

No indication recorded.