Abstract

Introduction: Cardiovascular disease has become a major cause of death especially in developing countries. This has raised serious concern especially on the health of postmenopausal women due to hormonal imbalance experienced at this transition. Early detection of cardiovascular disease is a key to its prevention. Therefore, this study aims to assess atherogenic index of plasma (AIP) and visceral adiposity index (VAI) as surrogate markers of cardiovascular risk in postmenopausal women.


Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study recruited randomly a total of two hundred and seventy-six (276) participants which comprises of fifty four percent (54%) postmenopausal and forty six percent (46%) premenopausal subjects. Anthropometric variables such as blood pressure, body mass index, waist circumference, waist to hip ratio were measured while blood lipids and estradiol were estimated using standard methods. Visceral adiposity index, Atherogenic index of plasma, and other cardiovascular risk indices were calculated using standard formula.


Results: The result of the study revealed significantly higher (p<0.05) VAI, AIP, total cholesterol, triglycerides, very low-density lipoprotein, low density lipoprotein and other cardiovascular risk indices in postmenopausal women than premenopausal women. However, there was significantly lower estradiol in postmenopausal women when compared with premenopausal women but no significant difference observed in high density lipoprotein of postmenopausal and premenopausal women when compared.


Conclusion: It is therefore pertinent to note that postmenopausal women are at a greater risk for cardiovascular diseases and that VAI and AIP can be used as alternative screening tool for the evaluation of cardiovascular risk routinely.