New York. Stress-induced drops in estrogen may put young women at increased risk of heart disease. High levels of estrogen in premenopausal women are believed to protect them from developing coronary artery disease, with the risk of heart disease rising after menopause, when estrogen levels naturally drop. But results of a study conducted in female monkeys suggest that stress affects estrogen levels in young women, leading to increased heart risk even before menopause.

The investigators also found evidence that arterial disease from low estrogen levels in young women may not be reversed later in life with postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy. Hormone levels, therefore, need to be watched throughout a woman’s lifetime, not just after menopause, said Jay Kaplan, MD, of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.

Kaplan and colleagues studied the effect of stress on estrogen levels and arterial plaque development in young female monkeys fed a high-cholesterol diet over a five-year period. Kaplan presented the team’s findings Sept. 8 at the North American Menopause Society meeting in Orlando, Fla.

Supporting evidence from other studies suggests that these findings apply to humans, Kaplan said. Autopsy results reveal that one-third of women have lesions in their coronary arteries by age 35. The research was funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

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