Sex Hormones Linked to Cardiac Arrest in Study That Finds High Levels of Testosterone Beneficial
Higher levels of testosterone and lower levels of estrogen could protect you from cardiac arrest, suggests a new study from the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute.
Measuring the levels of the two sex hormones in patients' blood may identify patients likely to suffer a sudden cardiac arrest. The study showed that lower levels of testosterone, the male sex hormone, were found in men who had a sudden cardiac arrest. Higher levels of estradiol, the major female sex hormone, were strongly associated with greater chances of having a cardiac arrest in men and women.
Sudden cardiac arrest is the result of defective electrical impulses. Patients may have little or no warning and just 5% of those who suffer sudden cardiac arrest survive.
For patients at known risk, an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator can be placed in the chest to detect faulty electrical impulses and provide a shock to return normal rhythm.
The comprehensive, 16-hospital, multiyear assessment of cardiac deaths in the 1 million population of Portland, Oregon metropolitan area was led by Sumeet Chugh, director of the Heart Rhythm Center in the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute and funded in part by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
The study's findings include:
• Men who had sudden cardiac arrests had testosterone levels of 4.4 nanograms per millilitre, compared to 5.4 nanograms per millilitre for men who did not have sudden cardiac arrest.
• Men who had sudden cardiac arrest had estradiol levels of 68 picograms per millilitre, compared to 52 picograms per millilitre for men who did not have sudden cardiac arrest.
• Women who had sudden cardiac arrest had estradiol levels of 54 picograms per millilitre, compared to 36 picograms per millilitre for the control group.
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