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Effect of statins on estrogen and androgen levels in postmenopausal women treated with estradiol.

Author(s): Peck A, Chaikittisilpa S, Mirzaei R, Wang J, Mack WJ, Hodis HN, Stanczyk FZ

Affiliation(s): Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA 90093, USA.

Publication date & source: 2011-02, Climacteric., 14(1):49-53. Epub 2010 May 7.

Publication type: Randomized Controlled Trial; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

OBJECTIVE: A considerable number of postmenopausal women who receive estrogen therapy are also treated for hypercholesterolemia with cholesterol-lowering statins. Statins and steroid hormones can compete for the same steroid-metabolizing enzymes. We investigated whether long-term administration of statins had an effect on serum estrogen and androgen levels in postmenopausal women receiving and not receiving oral estrogen therapy. METHODS: A subgroup analysis from the Estrogen in the Prevention of Atherosclerosis Trial, a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, was performed. A total of 222 women were randomized to receive either placebo or 1 mg of oral micronized 17beta-estradiol daily for 2 years. In both the placebo and treatment groups, participants with low density lipoprotein cholesterol levels >160 mg/dl were treated with statins. Blood samples were obtained at baseline and every 6 months during the trial. Serum levels of dehydroepiandrosterone, androstenedione, testosterone, estrone and 17beta-estradiol were measured by radioimmunoassay. RESULTS: Among 86 placebo- and 90 estradiol-treated subjects with baseline and on-trial hormone measurements, no significant differences were observed between the statin-free and statin-treated groups in mean changes from baseline to on-trial levels in any of the androgens or estrogens, whether or not the postmenopausal women were treated with estrogen. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that estrogen therapy and statins can be used simultaneously with no deleterious effects on circulating hormone levels.

Page last updated: 2011-12-09

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