Association of sex hormone concentrations in women with cardiovascular morbidity and mortality

心血管疾病（CVD）是女性死亡的主要原因，其死亡率高于男性（58%对42%）。此外，女性患心血管疾病的时间比男性晚10年左右，绝经后心血管疾病的发病率急剧上升。在更年期过渡期间，雌激素对心脏保护作用的丧失被认为是观察到的模式的潜在解释。然而，现有的流行病学和临床研究提供了不确定的结果，并且仅提供有限的证据表明性激素浓度，包括雌激素和睾酮，对妇女心血管风险的影响。因此，本研究旨在调查性激素浓度低和性激素浓度高的女性心血管风险，分别使用约2000名年龄在20至79岁之间的女性的纵向人口数据，并采用经过验证的流行病学和实验室方法和终点。此外，计划中的以质谱为基础的性激素测量将为研究女性性激素的生理决定因素的国际遗传联盟提供有价值的数据。基于这些数据和观察结果，概述的项目将产生重要的假设，以供将来在临床研究环境中验证。

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the leading cause of deaths among women, with a higher rate compared to men (58% vs. 42%). Furthermore, women develop CVD about 10 years later than men, showing a steep increase of incident CVD after menopause. The loss of the putative cardioprotective influence of estrogen during the menopausal transition was postulated as potential explanation for the observed pattern. However, available epidemiological and clinical studies provide inconclusive results and offer only limited evidence for the suggested influence of sex hormone concentrations, including estrogen and testosterone, on cardiovascular risk in women.Thus, the present study aims to investigate the cardiovascular risk of low and high sex hormone concentrations in women, respectively, using longitudinal population-based data of about 2000 women aged 20 to 79 years with validated epidemiological and laboratory methods and endpoints. Furthermore, the planned mass spectrometry-based sex hormone measurements will provide valuable data to significantly contribute to an international genetic consortium for the investigation of the physiological determinants of sex hormones in women. Based on these data and observational findings the outlined project will generate important hypotheses for future validation in a clinical research setting.