KDKA-TV: Study finds link between cholesterol, menopause

Menopause is commonly called the change of life. 

Not only do women's reproductive cycles change, but a new study shows that cholesterol changes, too.

And this may be part of why heart disease risk increases for women at this milestone.

While some women welcome the end of their monthly cycles in their early 50s, they should approach the change with some caution.

Cholesterol shoots up which boosts heart disease risk too.

"There is actually a very abrupt increase, and it happens immediately within the first year of menopause," says Dr. Indu Poornima.

A local researcher published a study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. She and colleagues monitored the bad cholesterol, or LDL, of more than a thousand women in the years before, during and after menopause.

The average went from around 115 before to 125 after, leveling off at 130 five years after. Ideally it should be 100 or less.
 

To read more, visit the KDKA-TV web site.