Endogenous androgens, coronary atheroma and remodeling in women with suspected ischemic heart disease: A report from the Women's Ischemia Syndrome Evaluation (WISE) study.

Background: Women have smaller coronary size than men independent of body surface area. Female to male heart transplantation demonstrates coronary lumen enlargement.

Purpose: To investigate relationships between endogenous androgens and coronary luminal size in women with suspected ischemic heart disease (IHD).

Methods: We analyzed 69 women with available androgen levels.

Results: Group mean age was 54 ± 10 years with 64 % post-menopausal. Lumen cross-sectional area (CSA) and external elastic membrane (EEM) CSA positively correlated with free testosterone (FT) ( = 0.29,  = 0.049; r = 0.29,  = 0.01), respectively, and negatively correlated with SHBG ( = -0.26,  = 0.03;  = -0.29,  = 0.02), respectively. Atheroma CSA positively correlated with FT ( = 0.24.  = 0.05). These correlations became non-significant after adjusting for waist circumference.

Conclusions: In women with suspected ischemic heart disease, endogenous androgens, coronary atheroma and luminal size are related, and may be moderated by waist circumference.