Abstract
Gofman et al. † have demonstrated significant sex differences in the concentration of the Sf 12-20 beta-lipoproteins, in that women (25-40 years of age) showed about 25% less of these lipoproteins in their blood than men of similar age group. Since these lower values correlate well with the lower incidence of atherosclerosis in young women it seemed important to observe the effect of administering the sex steroid hormones on the serum lipids and lipoproteins in both sexes. Such observation might help to explain the observed sex differences in atherosclerosis. Eilert 2 did report that estrogens induced a sharp reduction in the ratio of total serum cholesterol to phospholipid because of a rise in phospholipid and a fall in total cholesterol. These findings are contrary to the observations being reported in this study.
Our clinical observations were derived from the study of 16 males and 15 females (whose ages range from 55-65 years) who were given estradiol‡ in variable physiologic doses of 0.25-0.75 mg daily for periods of 2-4 months. Blood specimens were taken before and at monthly intervals after the start of estrogen administration for the determination of the total serum lipids, cholesterol, cholesterol esters, phospholipids, cholesterol/phospholipid ratio, as well as the serum low density lipoproteins.†
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