Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Jun;27(6):693-700.
doi: 10.1097/GME.0000000000001568.

Baseline estrogen levels in postmenopausal women participating in the MAP.3 breast cancer chemoprevention trial

Harriet Richardson  1 , Vikki Ho  2 , Romain Pasquet  2 , Ravinder J Singh  3 , Matthew P Goetz  4 , Dongsheng Tu  1 , Paul E Goss  5 , James N Ingle  4 ; MAP.3 Investigators
Affiliations

Baseline estrogen levels in postmenopausal women participating in the MAP.3 breast cancer chemoprevention trial

Harriet Richardson et al. Menopause. 2020 Jun.

Abstract

Objective: The aim of the study was to quantify baseline estradiol (E2) and estrone (E1) concentrations according to selected patient characteristics in a substudy nested within the MAP.3 chemoprevention trial.

Methods: E2 and E1 levels were measured in 4,068 postmenopausal women using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Distributions were described by age, years since menopause, race, body mass index (BMI), smoking status, and use and duration of hormone therapy using the Kruskal-Wallis test. Multivariable linear regression was also used to identify characteristics associated with estrogen levels.

Results: After truncation at the 97.5th percentile, the mean (SD)/median (IQR) values for E2 and E1 were 5.41 (4.67)/4.0 (2.4-6.7) pg/mL and 24.7 (14.1)/21 (15-31) pg/mL, respectively. E2 and E1 were strongly correlated (Pearson correlation [r] = 0.8, P < 0.01). The largest variation in E2 and E1 levels was by BMI; mean E2 and E1 levels were 3.5 and 19.1 pg/mL, respectively for women with BMI less than 25 and 7.5 and 30.6 pg/mL, respectively, for women with BMI greater than 30. E2 and E1 varied by age, BMI, smoking status, and prior hormone therapy in multivariable models (P < 0.01).

Conclusions: There was large interindividual variability observed for E2 and E1 that varied significantly by participant characteristics, but with small absolute differences except in the case of BMI. Although the majority of participant characteristics were independently associated with E1 and E2, together, these factors only explained about 20% of the variation in E1 and E2 levels.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Financial disclosure/conflicts of interest: None reported.

Figures

FIG. 1.
FIG. 1.
Consort diagram.
FIG. 2.
FIG. 2.
Distribution of estradiol concentrations. Arrow indicates the extreme observations (outliers) above 97.5 percentile that were assigned values at the 97.5 percentile.
FIG. 3.
FIG. 3.
Distribution of estrone concentrations. Arrow indicates the extreme observations (outliers) above 97.5 percentile that were assigned values at the 97.5 percentile.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Available at: https://www.endocrinesciences.com/sites/default/files/Endocrine%20Scienc.... Accessed February 21, 2020.
    1. Toniolo PG, Levitz M, Zeleniuch-Jacquotte A, et al. A prospective study of endogenous estrogens and breast cancer in postmenopausal women. J Natl Cancer Inst 1995;87:190–197. - PubMed
    1. Schairer C, Lubin J, Troisi R, Sturgeon S, Brinton L, Hoover R. Menopausal estrogen and estrogen-progestin replacement therapy and breast cancer risk. JAMA 2000;283:485–491. - PubMed
    1. Cauley JA, Lucas FL, Kuller LH, Stone K, Browner W, Cummings SR. Elevated serum estradiol and testosterone concentrations are associated with a high risk for breast cancer. Study of Osteoporotic Fractures Research Group. Ann Intern Med 1999;130:270–277. - PubMed
    1. Key T, Appleby P, Barnes I, Reeves G; Endogenous Hormones and Breast Cancer Collaborative Group. Endogenous sex hormones and breast cancer in postmenopausal women: reanalysis of nine prospective studies. J Natl Cancer Inst 2002;94:606–616. - PubMed

Publication types