Estrone, sex hormone binding globulin and lipid profiles in older women: an observational study.

OBJECTIVE

We investigated whether estrone and sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) concentrations are associated with lipid concentrations in older postmenopausal women.

METHODS

This was a cross-sectional study of 6358 Australian women, aged 70-95 years, recruited between 2010 and 2014. Associations between estrone and SHBG and lipid concentrations were examined in participants not using medications that influence estrogen concentrations or lipid-lowering therapy. Linear regression models included age, body mass index, smoking, alcohol consumption, renal function and diabetes, with the lowest quartile (Q1) as the reference for estrone and SHBG.

RESULTS

The study included 3231 participants with median age of 74.0 (interquartile range 71.7-77.9) years. Estrone concentration Q3 and Q4 were positively associated with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) ( = 0.017 and  = 0.046, respectively). Inverse associations were seen for estrone Q4 with total cholesterol ( = 0.018), Q2 and Q4 with non-HDL-C ( = 0.045 and  = 0.002, respectively) and Q3 and Q4 with triglycerides ( = 0.030 and  = 0.001, respectively). For SHBG, Q2, Q3 and Q4 were positively associated with HDL-C (all  < 0.001), and inversely with non-HDL-C (all  = 0.001) and triglycerides (all  < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Estrone and SHBG are associated with lipid concentrations in older women. SHBG, but not estrone, may provide additional clinical predictive utility for the assessment of cardiometabolic disease risk in older women.