Passage of the menopause is followed by haemostatic changes.

The passage of the menopause has been reported to be followed by a steadily increasing risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Changes in the concentrations of certain coagulation factors and fibrinolytic components are considered risk factors for CVD. We evaluated the differences in some of these variables between a premenopausal group (A) (n = 28) and two postmenopausal groups, one of women less than 18 months past the menopause (B) (n = 28), the other of women more than 18 months past the menopause (C) (n = 21). The variables measured were serum oestradiol content, plasma antithrombin III (AT III) activity, protein C activity and the plasma concentrations of tissue type plasminogen activator (t-PA) antigen, plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI-1) antigen, and fibrinogen. As compared with the premenopausal women (group A), group C showed significantly higher values for AT III and protein C activity and for t-PA and PAI-1 antigen; and group B and C both showed significantly higher fibrinogen concentrations. This probably means that haemostatic balance was maintained in the postmenopausal women, although the increased concentrations of fibrinogen and PAI-1 might constitute risk factors for the development of cardiovascular disease.