A new study has shed light on the menopause health effects when it comes to heart disease, and it seems the increased risk has more to do with the body changes associated to this time during a woman's life than it does about age, as an interesting phenomenon develops during this time.
According to Science Daily, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences made the latest menopause health discoveries, publishing them in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism under the name "Cardiovascular Fat, Menopause and Sex Hormones in Women: The SWAN Cardiovascular Fat Ancillary Study."
In their menopause health study, researchers found that, in the late stages of menopause and after women had gone through this process, women had greater volumes of fat around their hearts, something that intensifies the risk of developing heart disease at any age - and the difference with pre-menopausal women is quite significant.
For their study, researchers evaluated clinical data on 456 women in the United States, with 51 years as their average age and without being the subject of hormone replacement therapies of any kind.
The Siasat Daily reports that this new menopause health discovery stems from past numbers that show heart illness is the leading cause of death in women in the United States, and the chances of developing a heart condition increases considerably after hitting the 50 year mark, actually the average age women have during menopause.
"By showing that menopause appears to be associated with a shift in fat deposits that leads to more fat around the heart, we have uncovered a new potential contributor to increased risk of cardiovascular disease in women," Samar El Khoudary, lead author of the menopause health study, told the press, Daiji World reports.
In the past, weight gain in women around this period had been attributed to aging rather than menopause health risk, but this new study could potentially save many lives.
