Associations of Body Mass and Fat Distribution with Sex Hormone Concentrations in Postmenopausal Women

Abstract

The associations of body mass and body fat distribution, as measured by waist-to-hip circumference ratio, with serum concentrations of sex hormones and sex hormone binding globulin were examined in 88 postmenopausal women. Body mass index (BMI) was significantly and negatively associated with sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) (r = -0.41), luteinizing hormone (LH) (r = -0.40) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) (r = -0.38) and was also significantly positively associated with both total and free oestradiol (r = 0.40 and 0.45, respectively). Waist-to-hip circumference ratio was significantly negatively correlated with SHBG (r = -0.53), LH (r = -0.35), and FSH (r = -0.35). After adjustment for BMI and other related factors, waist-to-hip circumference ratio was significantly and negatively associated with SHBG, LH, and FSH, and demonstrated a significant curvilinear relationship with free testosterone. These results suggest that in postmenopausal women, abdominal adiposity is associated with a relatively more androgenic sex hormone profile.

C-peptide, IGF-I, sex-steroid hormones and adiposity: a cross-sectional study in healthy women within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)

“…Furthermore, C-peptide and IGF-I correlated independently with levels of sex-steroid hormones and SHBG. The relationships of adiposity with C-peptide, SHBG and free sex-steroid hormones in our study confirm results of previous studies [12,18,[20][21][22][23][24][25]. High levels of insulin, for which C-peptide is a marker, have been associated with excess weight and inhibit SHBG production in the liver [7,26].…”

“…For total estrogen measurements, BMI and waist circumference were directly correlated with estrone and estradiol only in postmenopausal women, as observed in previous studies [12,22,23,39]. In premenopausal women, results of former studies have been somewhat contradictory, but in general no association was observed between BMI and estrogens [20,21,33,40], as in our study.…”

“…Therefore, adjustments for study centre were redundant after adjustment for analytical batch. All the analyses on estrogen levels were also adjusted for phase of the menstrual cycle in five categories: 'early follicular' (days 0-7 of the cycle), 'late follicular' (days 8-11), 'peri-ovulatory' (days 11-16), 'midluteal' (days [20][21][22][23][24] and 'other luteal' (days 17-19 or 25-40).…”

Postmenopausal levels of oestrogen, androgen, and SHBG and breast cancer: long-term results of a prospective study

“…Significant trends of increasing risk with increasing levels of all hormones were observed in matched analyses not adjusted for additional factors (model a). As body mass index is a determinant of circulating oestrogen levels (Vermeulen and Verdonck, 1979;Poortman et al, 1981;Kaye et al, 1991) and therefore on the same causal pathway as oestrogens, we present adjusted analyses both including and excluding this variable (plus height, as recommended by Michels et al, 1998). Adjusting for age at menarche, parity, age at first birth, family history of breast cancer, and history of breast biopsy, one variable at a time (data not shown) or simultaneously (Table 3, model b) did not materially affect the ORs.…”

Mammography screening in African American women

“…That excess adiposity, particularly in the upper body, is correlated with increased levels of bioavailable estrogen is well known. 102 Mechanisms point to associations between obesity and/or upper body adiposity with decreased levels of sex hormone bonding globulin, 103,104 hyperinsulinemia, and correspondingly higher levels of insulin-like growth factor type I. 105,106 In studies that included large numbers of African American women, obesity has also been shown to be associated with larger tumors, positive lymph nodes, and later stage at diagnosis.…”