Associations between body composition and cardiovascular disease risk in pre- and postmenopausal women

Background Menopause transition is a critical phase of women’s life since body composition and cardiovascular risk factors begin to change during this period. This study investigated the associations between body composition and cardiovascular disease risk (CVDR) in pre (PrMW) and postmenopausal women (PMW). Methods A community-based cross-sectional study involving 184 PrMW and 166 PMW, selected randomly from Bope-Poddala area in Galle, Sri Lanka was carried out. Total-body fat mass (TBFM, kg), total body skeletal muscle mass (TBSMM, kg), total body bone mineral density (TBBMD, g/cm 2 ) and total body bone mineral content (TBBMC, g) were measured with total body DXA scanner and they were taken as indices of body composition. CVDR was evaluated using Framingham risk score (FRS%) and individual CVDR factors, such as systolic blood pressure (SBP, mmHg), diastolic blood pressure (DBP, mmHg), fasting blood sugar (FBS, mg/dl), total cholesterol, (TC, mg/dl), tryglycerides (TG, mg/dl), high-density lipoprotein (HDL, mg/dl) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL, mg/dl). Correlations between indices of body composition and CVDR factors were assessed with adjusted partial correlation (adjusted for socio-demographic and gynecologic status, age, daily calorie consumption and physical activity level). Results Mean(SD) age of PrMW and PMW were 42.4(6.0) and 55.8(3.8) years respectively. TBFM correlated with SBP and DBP ( r range; 0.15 to 0.21) and TBSMM correlated with SBP, DBP and HDL ( r range; − 0.24 to 0.17) only in PrMW ( p < 0.05). TBBMD correlated only with FBS in PMW ( r ; − 0.21, p = 0.01). TBBMC did not show correlations with CVDR factors ( p > 0.05). Body composition indices did not show correlations with total CVDR estimated by FRS and in both groups of women ( p > 0.05). Conclusions Both SBP and DBP are associated with FM and SMM in different ways among PrMW. This association, however, was not seen among PMW. FBS is associated with BMD only in PMW.