Estrogen has a favorable effect on cholesterol and on the flexibility of blood vessel walls. As it withdraws, LDL rises, HDL falls and blood pressure tends to increase. Abdominal fat gain compounds it. Women largely catch up with men over about fifteen years.
What changes
Austin patient guide: three things that shift
Lipid changes are the first of the three, and they are the reason a Austin patient can get a worse cholesterol result without changing anything. Cholesterol profiles worsen. LDL rises and HDL falls in the years around menopause, and the change is measurable even in women whose diet and activity have not altered.
Blood pressure tends to rise, partly through the loss of estrogen's effect on vessel flexibility and partly through the weight and body composition changes happening in parallel.
Fat redistributes towards the abdomen, and abdominal fat carries more metabolic risk than the same quantity stored elsewhere. Those three together explain most of the rise. There is more in patient guides, blood clot and stroke risk and what to expect first for the rest of it. Waist measurement tells a Austin clinician more about metabolic risk than total weight does, because abdominal fat is the part that carries it.
