Bart C. J. M. Fauser and Andrea R. Genazzani (eds.)Frontiers in Gynecological EndocrinologyISGE Series10.1007/978-3-319-09662-9_15

15. Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders in Aging Women

Diana Jędrzejuk¹, Andrzej Milewicz¹, Anna Arkowska¹, Urszula Mieszczanowicz¹, Jerzy Chudek² and Tomasz Zdrojewski³

(1)

Department of Endocrinology, Diabetology and Isotopes Therapy, Wroclaw Medical University, Pasteura 4, Wroclaw, 50-367, Poland

(2)

Department of Nephrology, Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases, Medical University of Silesia, Francuska 20-24, Katowice, 40-027, Poland

(3)

Department of Preventive Medicine and Education, Medical University of Gdańsk, Dębinki 7, Gdańsk, 80-211, Poland

Diana Jędrzejuk

Email: diana.jedrzejuk@gmail.com

Andrzej Milewicz (Corresponding author)

Email: andrzej.milewicz@umed.wroc.pl

Anna Arkowska

Email: anna.arkowska@umed.wroc.pl

Jerzy Chudek

Email: chj@poczta.fm

Tomasz Zdrojewski

Email: tz@gumed.edu.pl

15.1 Introduction

Aging in women is associated with several hormonal and metabolic disorders. Sex hormone transformation in aging women is associated with fat distribution changes caused by insulin resistance and atherogenic lipids profile. Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the most common reason for mortality in women over 50 years of age. Several predictors can be recommended to recognize the risk of CVD such as body mass index (BMI) >30.0 kg/m², waist circumference over 80 cm for women and 94 cm for men, serum fasting glucose >100.0 mg% (5.6 mmol/l), serum triglycerides >150.0 mg% (1.7 mmol/l), serum high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol <50.0 mg% (1.1 mmol/l) for women and <40.0 mg% (0.9 mmol/l) for men, and hypertension >130/85 mmHg [1].

15.2 Materials and Methods

The assumptions of the PolSenior study was described in detail elsewhere [2]. This study included subjects randomly selected out of 15.574 from the whole of Poland. A total of 1.971 women and 2.087 men aged 50–100 years old were studied. Anthropometric parameters (BMI, waist circumference), fasting glucose and homeostatic model assessment (HOMA), fasting triglycerides and HDL cholesterol were estimated using standard methods. Serum insulin, estradiol, testosterone, sex hormone-binding globulin (SHGB) were evaluated using radioimmunoassay (RIA) methods and the free androgen index (FAI) and the free estradiol index (FEI) were calculated.