The midlife transition and the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer Part II: strategies to maximize quality of life and limit dysfunction and disease.

Chronic dysfunction, disabilities, and complex diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus type 2, osteoporosis and certain cancers, among other burdens, emerge and accelerate in midlife women. Previously in part l, we described the clinical and laboratory research findings that more readily explain and clarify the underlying pathogenetic mechanisms driving these clinical burdens, including new findings on how in particular visceral obesity and the emergence and acceleration of various components of metabolic syndrome-glucotoxicity and lipotoxicity-and a chronic systemic inflammatory state abetted by the loss of ovarian production of estradiol and the inevitable inroads of aging generate this spectrum of clinical problems. These research insights translate into opportunities for effective care strategies leading to prevention, amelioration, possible correction, and enhanced quality of life.

The midlife transition and the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer Part I: magnitude and mechanisms.

Heart disease and cancer are the leading causes of death in the United States. In women, the clinical appearance of both entities-coronary heart disease and cancer (breast, endometrium, and ovary)-escalate during the decades of the midlife transition encompassing the menopause. In addition to the impact of aging, during the interval between the age of 40 and 65 years, the pathophysiologic components of metabolic syndrome also emerge and accelerate.

The association of an alpha2C adrenoreceptor gene polymorphism with vasomotor symptoms in African American women.

Objective: The alpha2C adrenoreceptor deletion 322-325 (ADRA2C del 322-325) polymorphism has been associated with autonomic activity and thermoregulation, which are implicated in the vasomotor symptom (VMS) mechanism. The ADRA2C del (322-325) has higher prevalence in African American women, a group known to experience more frequent and bothersome VMS. We assessed whether the ADRA2C del (322-325) genotype is associated with increased frequency of VMS in African American women.