Sex hormone concentrations in post-menopausal women.

Plasma sex hormone concentrations (testosterone, (T), androstenedione (A), oestrone (E1) and oestradiol (E2) were measured in forty post-menopausal women more than 4 years post-normal menopause. Correlations between these and age, years post-menopause (YPM), degree of obesity and fat mass respectively were studied. T and A, as well as E1 and E2 were positively correlated (P less than 0.01), but no statistically significant correlation between A and E1 was observed. Sex hormone concentrations in this group of postmenopausal women (greater than 4YPM) did not show any variation as a function of age, with the possible exception of E2 which showed a tendency to decrease in the late post-menopause. E1 and to a lesser extent E2 as well as the E1/A ratio were significantly corelated with degree of obesity or fat mass, suggesting a possible role of fat tissue in the aromatization of androgens. Neither the T/A nor the E2/E1 ratios were correlated with fat mass, suggesting that the reduction of 17 oxo-group does not occur in fat tissue. The E1/A ratio was significantly higher than the reported conversion rate of A in E1. This might suggest the existence of an additional precursor of plasma E1.