Abstract:

Objectives: The relationship between sex hormones (estrogen, testosterone) and coronary artery disease (CAD) has been found to be controversial in various studies. Moreover, recent studies revealed an association between CAD and DHEA-S (dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate) which is an endogenous steroid hormone and the precursor of sex hormones. We aimed to investigate (1) the relationship between serum testosterone, estrogen, DHEA levels and obstructive coronary artery disease (OCAD), (2) also to assess how this relation is effected by C-reactive protein (CRP) in patients who have possible stable CAD.Study Design: A hundred patients enrolled in the study. Patients were assigned to two groups based on the presence of lesions that causes luminal narrowing more than % 50 in at least one epicardial coronary artery (OCAD, N-OCAD). Serum total testosterone, estrogen, DHEA-S and CRP levels were studied in both groups. Results: OCAD was detected in 75 (60 m, 15 f) patients. The mean age was 60.1 ± 14.2 in the OCAD group and 59.2 ± 11.2 in the N-OCAD group. Serum/plasma HbA1c levels and having male gender were significantly higher in the OCAD group. (p = 0.002, p = 0.008). Serum sex hormones were shown to have no significant differences between groups. However, there was a poor correlation between DHEA-S and CRP levels in the OCAD group.Conclusion: Our data showed that there is no significant relationship between serum sex hormone levels and OCAD. However, we found a weak correlation between DHEA-S and the CRP.

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