Menopause and cardiovascular health: looking beyond traditional risk factors.
The menopausal transition involves hormonal, metabolic and vascular changes that may influence women’s cardiovascular health. Understanding these changes from an integrated perspective may open new opportunities for more precise and personalized prevention.
Menopause: a key stage for cardiovascular health
Menopause is not only the end of reproductive life. It also represents a physiological transition during which hormonal changes can influence metabolism, vascular function and several factors related to cardiovascular risk.
The decline in estrogen levels may contribute to changes in endothelial function and metabolic regulation, progressively modifying the cardiovascular risk profile.
This becomes particularly relevant when menopause occurs at an earlier age, as several studies have associated premature or early menopause with a higher subsequent cardiovascular risk.
From estrogen decline to cardiovascular risk
The menopausal transition can activate a pathophysiological cascade in which different biological processes become interconnected.
Estrogen decline
The menopausal transition is accompanied by a progressive reduction in estrogen levels.
Endothelial dysfunction
Hormonal changes may affect mechanisms related to vascular function and regulation.
Metabolic dysregulation
Lipid and energy metabolism may also change during this stage.
Cardiovascular risk
The combination of these processes may contribute to changes in long-term cardiovascular risk.
Women’s cardiovascular risk requires a specific perspective
Women have specific physiological and biological characteristics that are not always adequately captured by traditional cardiovascular risk assessment tools.
Hormonal context
The menopausal transition introduces changes that may alter metabolic and cardiovascular profiles.
Biological variability
Age at menopause, personal history and other factors may result in different risk profiles.
Individual heterogeneity
Not all women experience the same changes or present the same cardiovascular risk during the menopausal transition.
Why might traditional biomarkers not be enough?
Conventional biomarkers provide valuable information, but they may not capture the full biological complexity of the menopausal transition.
Traditional risk scores
Risk calculators are based on a limited set of variables and may not incorporate certain factors that are specific to women’s cardiovascular health.
Different molecular signatures
Cardiovascular biology may differ between women and men and can also change according to hormonal status and age.
The same value does not mean the same for everyone
Integrating hormonal, metabolic and clinical context may help provide a more complete picture of individual risk.
What can multi-omics contribute?
Multi-omics integrates different layers of biological information to provide a systems-level view of physiological processes and disease-related mechanisms.
Rather than studying a single parameter in isolation, this approach allows researchers to explore how different molecular signals interact.
Genomics
Genomics enables the study of genetic variants associated with individual susceptibility and cardiovascular risk.
Transcriptomics
Transcriptomics analyzes changes in gene expression across different physiological contexts and during the menopausal transition.
Proteomics
Proteomics enables the simultaneous characterization of a broad range of proteins involved in multiple biological processes and molecular pathways.
Metabolomics
Metabolomics reflects metabolic status through the analysis of lipids, amino acids, metabolites and lipoprotein profiles.
HARmony: studying women’s cardiovascular health through a multi-omics approach
HARmony (HARnessing the power of MultiOmics) is a public-private collaboration project investigating cardiovascular risk in women through a longitudinal, multi-omics approach.
The project integrates proteomics, genomics, metabolomics and transcriptomics, together with clinical assessment and vascular imaging, to improve our understanding of the biological complexity underlying cardiovascular risk in women.
This integrated strategy aims to move towards more precise risk characterization and contribute to the development of more personalized prevention strategies.
Within this multidisciplinary framework, Biosfer Teslab contributes its expertise in NMR-based metabolomics and advanced lipoprotein profiling.
A public-private consortium
HARmony is developed by a public-private consortium bringing together research, clinical and technology partners.
Funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and the State Research Agency (AEI).
From isolated risk factors to molecular signatures
The aim of integrating multiple biological layers is not to replace traditional cardiovascular risk factors, but to complement them and better understand the diversity of biological profiles among women.
Detect changes earlier
Identifying molecular alterations may help researchers study stages that precede clinically apparent disease.
Understand mechanisms
Integrated data can help investigate how metabolism, genetics, proteins and vascular function interact during menopause.
Personalize risk
A future challenge is to develop prevention strategies adapted to each woman’s biological context.
Metabolomics and data science to better understand cardiovascular health
At Biosfer Teslab, we work with nuclear magnetic resonance technologies and advanced data analysis to characterize metabolism and lipoproteins in greater depth.
Research into women’s cardiovascular health provides an opportunity to apply these tools to clinical questions in which biological complexity and individual heterogeneity are particularly relevant.
Would you like to learn more about our metabolomics analyses?
Contact our team to discover how we can incorporate metabolomics, advanced lipoprotein profiling and data analysis into your research project.
Scientific references
- Vervoort D, et al. Addressing the Global Burden of Cardiovascular Disease in Women. Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 2024.
- Lee GB, et al. Association Between Premature Menopause and Cardiovascular Diseases and All-Cause Mortality in Korean Women. Journal of the American Heart Association. 2023.
- Wellons M, et al. Early menopause predicts future coronary heart disease and stroke: the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. Menopause. 2012.
- Visniauskas B, et al. Estrogen-mediated mechanisms in hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases. Journal of Human Hypertension. 2023.
- St. Pierre SR, et al. Sex-specific cardiovascular risk factors in the UK Biobank. Frontiers in Physiology. 2024.
- Sowers M, et al. SWAN: a multicenter, multiethnic, community-based cohort study of women and the menopausal transition. Menopause. 2000.