News Release

Rush studying the role of intra abdominal fat in coronary artery disease risk in women

Are pears better than apples?

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Rush University Medical Center

Researchers at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center are following middle-aged women from the Southside of Chicago to determine if the location of the fat in their bodies affects their risk for coronary artery disease.

Lynda Powell, PhD, has been studying women in the Beverly and Morgan Park neighborhoods in Chicago for several years as part of the Study of Women Across the Nation (SWAN). The SWAN study, funded by the National Institutes of Heart, Lung and Blood Diseases, is the first large-scale national study to examine the health of women in their 40s and 50s. SWAN is designed to track the health of approximately 3,200 women during the transitional years of middle age, examining the physical, psychological, and social changes that take place at mid-life.

However, it was not until Powell, who is going through menopause herself, noticed her pants were getting tighter that she realized she might have another health effect to study.

"It felt as if my pants were getting tight so I asked several women who were enrolled in the SWAN study if they too, were experiencing this and I was surprised to learn this was very common experience among menopausal women," she said. This sudden but subtle weight gain made her search previous literature to examine what, if any, association existed between fat that collects around vital organs, also known as intra abdominal fat.

"I found very little credible research that examined this," she said. So, she designed a new study using the women in SWAN to determine if the location of fat increases a woman's risk for heart disease.

This new initiative, called the Women on the Southside Health Project (WISH), draws on these same volunteers from the SWAN study to help determine coronary artery risk for post menopausal women.

This new group of women will be given annual CT and Deka Scans to determine the amount of fat that collects around the organs in the middle of the body, as well as bone strength. The women will be followed for five years and Powell and her colleagues will begin to see a clearer picture of what role intra abdominal fat plays in risk for coronary artery disease.

"We do think it is more healthy for women to be shaped like pears with their weight concentrating around their hips while women who are shaped like apples most likely have higher amounts of intra abdominal fat," she said.

Powell added that the WISH study is also the first study to examine the mediating role stress plays in heart disease risk among post menopausal women. Participants will be given a saliva test to determine the amount of cortisol that is present in the morning and at night -- times when levels are typically at their highest.

Cortisol is a steroid that regulates blood pressure and cardiovascular function as well as the body's use of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. Cortisol secretion increases in response to any stress in the body, whether physical (such as illness, trauma, surgery, or temperature extremes) or psychological. When cortisol is secreted, it causes a breakdown of muscle protein, leading to release of amino acids (the "building blocks" of protein) into the bloodstream.

"In women who are under stress, we often see that coritsol does no level off at night, leading to insomnia and poor sleep," she explained.

Powell hopes this new study can shed light on the role intra abdominal fat plays in risk for coronary artery disease, which would then allow doctors to develop better therapies, diets and interventions to assist these women.

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