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Query: UMLS:C0004153 (atherosclerosis)
 77,401 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The influence of daily oral cyclical estrogen therapy on the plasma lipid and lipoprotein levels in postmenopausal women was determined. Included were 39 women with distressing postmenopausal vasomotor symptoms. Ethinyl estradiol (EE2) .05 mg was given to 20 women and estradiol valerinate (EV) to 19 others. The drugs were given as tablets once daily for 3-week cycles with 1-week intervals. After overnight fasts, blood samples were taken before and during treatment at 1, 3, and 6 months. During EV therapy, the HDL-TC and the HDL-phosphlipid concentrations increased 10-15% after 6 cycles. The net effect on the risk of development of ischemic cardiovascular disease due to the change in plasma lipids induced by EE2 is uncertain. The plasma lipid changes during EV therapy might possibly retard the development of atherosclerosis. However, the lipid metabolism of postmenopausal women may be different from that of fertile women.
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PMID:Metabolic and hormonal effects of post-menopausal oestrogen replacement treatment. II. Plasma lipids. 20 45

Although combined oral contraceptives (OCs) do not create a true cardiovascular risk, they may increase the impact of existing vascular risk factors. Pill use disturbs metabolism of lipids and carbohydrates as well as the balance of water and sodium. New combinations with lower doses of steroids have significantly reduced these risks, and the development of new and less androgenic progestins for low dose pills is expected to reduce them further. The diabetogenic effect of OCs has been noted since 1963. Among normal women, the observed modifications in carbohydrate metabolism are minor and temporary, with increases in levels of blood sugar maximal at the beginning of use and normalizing after 12 months. Among women with family histories of diabetes or who have had gestational diabetes, use of combined OCs can entail irreversible deterioration of glucose tolerance or diabetes. The number of women with poor glucose tolerance increases with the duration of pill use. Reversibility of the condition decreases with duration of use. The proportion of women with poor glucose tolerance who develop diabetes is higher than among normal subjects. Women with poor glucose tolerance must be considered at risk of diabetes. Ethinyl estradiol is responsible for the early modification of glucose tolerance, which regresses after about 6 months of use. Hyperinsulinemia is caused by the direct stimulation of progestins on insulin secretion by the pancreas as well as by the development of peripheral resistence to glucose utilization resulting from a decrease of insulin receptors. The effect on insulin resistence is among the most androgenic progestins. Chronic hyperinsulinism represents a classic risk factor for atherosclerosis because of the effects on the arterial wall: proliferation of smooth muscle fibers, inhibition of lipolysis, and development of lesions of the intima analogous to those of atheroma. Estrogen is primarily responsible for the increased blood pressure of pill users, but the development of hypertension is also correlated with the progestin content. Progestins have an antidiuretic effect which contributes to increases in blood pressure when added to the estrogen stimulation of the renin-aldosterone-angiotensin system. Gestodene, a new progestin in the gonane series, is the most powerful synthetic progesterone yet known. Its uniqueness derives from the dissociation between its very powerful antigonadotropic activity even at small doses and its androgenic effects which only appear at considerably higher doses. Most of the metabolic effects of progestins are linked to their degree of androgenicity. Different studies of gestodene tolerance in a triphasic formulation have concluded that it is innocuous. The use of gestodene in a low-dose triphasic formulation may result in a combined OC that does not increase the individual atheromatous risk of the user.
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PMID:[Combined estrogen-progestagen contraception and glucid and water-sodium metabolism]. 1234 1