Background: Women have smaller coronary size than men independent of body surface area. Female to male heart transplantation demonstrates coronary lumen enlargement.
Purpose: To investigate relationships between endogenous androgens and coronary luminal size in women with suspected ischemic heart disease (IHD).
Methods: We analyzed 69 women with available androgen levels.
Results: Group mean age was 54 ± 10 years with 64 % post-menopausal. Lumen cross-sectional area (CSA) and external elastic membrane (EEM) CSA positively correlated with free testosterone (FT) (r = 0.29, p = 0.049; r = 0.29, p = 0.01), respectively, and negatively correlated with SHBG (r = -0.26, p = 0.03; r = -0.29, p = 0.02), respectively. Atheroma CSA positively correlated with FT (r = 0.24. p = 0.05). These correlations became non-significant after adjusting for waist circumference.
Conclusions: In women with suspected ischemic heart disease, endogenous androgens, coronary atheroma and luminal size are related, and may be moderated by waist circumference.
Keywords: Atherosclerosis; Endogenous androgens; Ischemic heart disease; Women.
© 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc.