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The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism Vol. 88, No. 10 4904-4910
Copyright © 2003 by The Endocrine Society

Insulin Resistance, Hemostatic Factors, and Hormone Interactions in Pre- and Perimenopausal Women: SWAN

MaryFran Sowers, Carol Derby, Mary L. Jannausch, Javier I. Torrens and Richard Pasternak

Department of Epidemiology (M.F.S., M.L.J.), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-2029; Department of Neurology (C.D.), Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University, New York, New York 10461; Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Women’s Health (J.I.T.), University of Medicine and Dentistry, New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey 07103; and Department of Cardiology (R.P.), Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02114

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: MaryFran Sowers, Ph.D., University of Michigan, Department of Epidemiology, 109 Observatory Street, Room 2624, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-2029. E-mail: mfsowers{at}umich.edu.


   Abstract
Top
 Abstract
Introduction
 Subjects and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
We evaluated the association of hemostatic factors with insulin resistance in relation to reproductive hormones including FSH, estradiol, testosterone, and SHBG. SHBG was used to calculate the free estradiol index and free androgen index. We studied 3,200 women, aged 42–52 yr, in the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation, a prospective multiethnic study of the menopausal transition. We measured the hemostatic factors, fibrinogen, factor VIIc, tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA), and plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 (PAI-1), as well as glucose and insulin to calculate insulin resistance.

After adjustment for body mass index, site, and ethnicity, SHBG was correlated with PAI-1 (partial r = -0.30) and t-PA (partial r = -0.12). Although testosterone was associated with t-PA (partial r = 0.13) and PAI-1 (partial r = 0.07), free androgen index was strongly correlated with t-PA (partial r = 0.18) and PAI-1 (partial r = 0.26). SHBG modified the association of hemostatic factors with insulin resistance. Women with greater insulin resistance had lower SHBG and higher PAI-1. Estrogen measures were not associated with insulin resistance.

The influence of sex hormones on hemostatic factors and insulin resistance is poorly understood. SHBG, which influences the amount of bioavailable hormone, significantly modified the association of PAI-1 and t-PA with insulin resistance. The longitudinal Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation will help us discern whether this interaction contributes to heart disease and diabetes among postmenopausal women.


   Introduction
Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
Subjects and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
IT IS UNCERTAIN whether hormonal influences on hemostatic factors contribute to the heart disease incidence in women by minimizing thrombosis (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8). Estelles et al. (9) found that, in comparison to postmenopausal women, plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 (PAI-1) antigen was lower both in postmenopausal women using hormone replacement therapy and in premenopausal women. Yet, in premenopausal women, there is an inconsistent association of oral contraceptives use with fibrolytic and coagulation activity (10).

Insulin resistance may be one mechanism through which the hemostatic factors are associated with endogenous hormones and cardiovascular disease (CVD). The World Health Organization MONICA Project, monitoring CVD in 21 countries, suggested that the relationship between insulin concentration and coronary heart disease was potentially stronger in women than men. MONICA investigators found that insulin levels were correlated with PAI-1 activity; however, the strength of the relationship differed according to menopause status (11). A similar constellation of hormones and CVD risk factors may occur in selected premenopausal populations of women, including those with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). In PCOS, hemostatic factors have been associated with insulin levels and insulin resistance, an association that is mitigated with treatment by metformin (12), which concomitantly induces resumption of normal menstrual cycles in amenorrheic women (13). Collectively, studies have not considered the interaction of hormones with hemostatic factors in relation to insulin resistance.

The Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation (SWAN) is a natural history study of the menopausal transition that has included measures of endogenous hormone concentrations and hemostatic factors. In SWAN, fibrinogen and factor VIIc were measured as markers of the extrinsic blood coagulation pathway, and tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) and PAI-1 were measured as markers of the fibrinolytic system. To assess the role of sex hormones on hemostatic factors and insulin resistance, we first corroborated that hemostatic factors were correlated with insulin resistance in women with and without diabetes. Then, we addressed the following questions: 1) are hormone concentrations, including FSH, estradiol, and testosterone, or the SHBG carrier protein associated with hemostatic factors and insulin resistance; and, 2) do the levels of reproductive hormones modify the direction or magnitude of the associations between hemostatic factors and insulin resistance?


   Subjects and Methods
Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Subjects and Methods
Results
 Discussion
 References
 
Population

SWAN is a prospective, multiethnic, multidisciplinary study of the natural history of the menopausal transition located in Boston, Chicago, the Detroit area, Los Angeles, Newark, Pittsburgh, and Oakland, California. A two-stage recruitment process began with a 15-min cross-sectional survey to collect selected health, reproductive, demographic, and lifestyle data. Women identified for participation in the cross- sectional survey were 40–55 yr old and living in the geographic area defined by the clinic sites as their target areas. The listing of the 16,065 women in this screening survey served as the sampling frame for the second stage of recruitment. There were 3302 women formed into the longitudinal cohort with each clinical center recruiting at least 450 women in a proportion that included non-Hispanic Caucasian women and women from one race/ethnic group designated for each site (African-American, Caucasian, Chinese, Japanese, or Hispanic). The longitudinal cohort study enrollment criteria were: aged 42–52 yr, intact uterus and at least one ovary, no current use of exogenous hormone preparations that affect ovarian function, at least one menstrual period in the 3 months before enrollment, and self-identification with the site’s designated race/ethnic group. Additional information about the eligibility criteria, sampling frames, and characteristics of participants have been published (14). Data were collected via protocols reviewed and endorsed by an appropriate Institutional Review Board at each site. This report is based on the baseline examination of the cohort study.

Measures

Menstrual status was based on self-report and classified as: perimenopausal, indicating menses had occurred in the previous 3 months but had become less predictable; or premenopausal, indicating menses had occurred in the past 3 months with no decreased predictability. Postmenopausal women or women using oral contraceptives or hormone replacement were ineligible for enrollment in the longitudinal cohort.

Height (in centimeters) and weight (in kilograms) were measured with stadiometers and calibrated scales and used to calculate body mass index (BMI) [weight (kilograms)/height (square meters)]. Waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) was calculated using hip and waist circumference measures (centimeters). BMI was used in analysis because it explained more variation than waist circumference or WHR.

Assays

Phlebotomy was performed in the morning after an overnight fast (96% of participants). Women were scheduled for venipuncture on d 2–7 of a spontaneous menstrual cycle occurring within 60 d of recruitment. Two attempts were made to obtain the d 2–7 sample; however, if a timed sample could not be obtained, a random fasting sample was taken within the 90-d period of recruitment (14% of participants). Blood was assayed in laboratories at the University of Michigan (estradiol, testosterone, SHBG, FSH, or TSH) or at the Medical Research Laboratories (glucose, insulin, hemostatic factors, and lipids). Throughout the study, the Medical Research Laboratories participated in, and remained certified by, the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, Centers for Disease Control Part III program (15).

Insulin was measured in serum by solid phase RIA (Coat-A-Count, Diagnostics Product Corp., Los Angeles, CA), and glucose was measured using a hexokinase-coupled reaction (Roche Molecular Biochemicals Diagnostics, Indianapolis, IN). From the measurement of glucose and insulin, an index was derived to reflect insulin resistance [(fasting insulin x fasting glucose)/ 22.5] (Ref.16). All lipid, lipoprotein, and apolipoprotein fractions were analyzed on EDTA-treated plasma (17, 18).

Hormone assays were conducted in the University of Michigan SWAN Endocrine Laboratory using the ACS-180 automated analyzer (Bayer Diagnostics Corp., Norwood, MA). The inter- and intraassay coefficients of variation are shown in brackets for each analyte. Serum FSH concentrations were measured with a two-site chemiluminometric immunoassay (12.0 and 6.0%). SHBG was a de novo two-site chemiluminescent assay (9.9 and 6.1%). Serum estradiol concentrations were measured with a modified, off-line ACS:180 (E2-6) immunoassay (10.6 and 6.4%). Total estradiol was indexed to SHBG [free estradiol index (FEI) = 100 x total estradiol/272.11 x SHBG] to estimate nonbound estradiol activity. Testosterone (T) concentrations were evaluated with the ACS:180 total testosterone assay modified to increase precision in the low ranges (10.5 and 8.5%). The free androgen index (FAI) was (100 T/SHBG). TSH concentration was assessed using a two-site sandwich chemiluminescent assay (9.0 and 1.9%). The cutpoints of less than 0.5 mIU/ml and more than 5.0 mIU/ml were used to classify women as having subclinical hyperthyroid or subclinical hypothyroid, respectively. Diabetes was defined as having a blood glucose greater than 126 mg/dl, use of medication for diabetes, or self-report of diabetes diagnosis.

Statistical analysis

All continuous variables other than age were log-transformed for use in linear regressions, to satisfy model assumptions such as normally distributed residuals. A variable for the time of day of blood draw was included in regression models because t-PA, PAI-1, and estradiol had significant diurnal variation. A variable for the day of blood draw within the menstrual cycle was included in regression models because insulin resistance, t-PA, PAI-1, estradiol, and BMI have higher values in women whose blood was drawn outside of d 2–7 of the menstrual cycle. A variable representing seasonality was included in regression models because insulin resistance was greater in the fall season. Other covariates included BMI, site, race/ethnicity, and site x ethnicity interaction. Smoking and age, with its narrow range in this study (42–52 yr), were not included in the final regression models because these variables were not correlated with the exposures or the outcomes. Initial analyses (data not shown) indicated that there were marked differences in values for African-American and Caucasian women according to clinical site, so a site x race/ethnicity interaction term was also included in subsequent model building.

Women being treated with anticoagulants (n = 8) were excluded from analyses, although women who reported the use of aspirin were retained because the reason for aspirin use could not be explicitly discerned. Women with diabetes and without diabetes were evaluated as separate strata because of the reported associations between diabetes and hypercoagulability (19). Likewise, the consistency of the associations were evaluated when including or excluding those women with TSH values within the ranges of 0.5–5.0 µIU/ml, thereby acknowledging the potential confounding of clinical or subclinical thyroid disease with the associations being described.

Medians and interquartile ranges were used to describe the data, and a Wilcoxon test was used to evaluate group differences. Correlations and their 95% confidence intervals (CI) were used to show the strength and direction of associations. Multiple variable regression analyses were used to relate insulin resistance, hemostatic factors, and hormones, and results were reported with partial correlations. The association of insulin resistance with hemostatic factors according to perimenopause status was also evaluated with multiple variable regression analyses with an indicator variable for pre- vs. early perimenopause status as well as an interaction term. Model fit, including appropriateness of transformations, was assessed using residual analyses. Log transformations were returned to appropriate units using the technique of Duan (20). A P value <0.01 was considered statistically significant.


   Results
Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Subjects and Methods
 Results
Discussion
 References
 
Women with and without diabetes

As expected, those mid-aged, pre- and perimenopausal women in this cohort with diabetes (n = 94) had higher mean insulin values, greater insulin resistance, and higher mean BMI compared with women in the cohort without diabetes (Table 1Go). All hemostatic factors were significantly elevated in women with diabetes compared with women without diabetes, particularly the fibrinolytic markers, PAI-1 and t-PA. Although hypercoagulability is reported among persons with diabetes, the coagulation markers, fibrinogen and factor VIIc, were only modestly higher among women with diabetes, compared with women without diabetes. Testosterone values were similar in women with and without diabetes, but the significantly lower SHBG values seen in women with diabetes generated a significantly higher FAI compared with women without diabetes (P < 0.0001). African-American women were significantly more likely to have diabetes than the women of other race/ethnic groups (P < 0.0001).


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  		TABLE 1. Hemostatic factors, hormones, insulin status, lipids, and body size characteristics of women with and without diabetes of the study population, exclusive of women using prescription anticoagulants

 
Unadjusted insulin resistance was greater in Hispanic and African-American women (50 and 46.7, respectively) compared with Caucasian (31.4), Chinese (30.1), and Japanese (26.7) women (Table 2Go). There were also important race/ethnic differences in the hemostatic measures. Median PAI-1 and t-PA values were significantly higher in Hispanic and African-American women compared with the Chinese and Japanese women. Ethnic differences in the coagulation markers, fibrinogen and factor VIIc, were less pronounced.


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  		TABLE 2. Hemostatic factors, hormones, insulin status, and body size characteristics according to ethnicity of the study population, exclusive of women with diabetes or using prescription anticoagulants

 
Hormones, hemostatic factors, and insulin resistance

Table 3Go shows the unadjusted correlations between the hormones, hemostatic factors, and insulin resistance overall. In women without diabetes, SHBG was strongly and negatively correlated with insulin resistance [-0.28 (95% CI, -0.30, -0.25)]. Although FAI and FEI were also significantly associated with insulin resistance (r = 0.24 and 0.14, respectively), the correlations of estradiol and testosterone were very low, which suggested that in large measure, the correlations of FAI and FEI with insulin resistance reflected the contribution of SHBG.


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  		TABLE 3. Unadjusted Pearson correlations (95%CI)1 of insulin resistance, insulin sensitivity, body size, and hemostatic factors in SWAN

 
In women without diabetes, SHBG was associated with PAI-1 (partial r = -0.30), and t-PA (partial r = -0.12), after adjustment for covariates. The partial correlations of SHBG with factor VIIc and fibrinogen (partial r = -0.07 and 0.005, respectively) were not significant.

Androgens were associated with the fibrinolytic factors. After adjustment for covariates, total testosterone was associated with t-PA (partial r = 0.13) and PAI-1 (partial r = 0.07). After adjustment for covariates, FAI remained strongly correlated with t-PA (partial r = 0.18) and PAI-1 (partial r = 0.26).

Although there were some statistically significant associations of estradiol and FSH with the hemostatic factors, after adjustment for covariates, the only significant partial correlation was between estradiol and fibrinogen (partial r = -0.09). FEI was significantly correlated with fibrinogen (partial r = 0.11).

These associations were consistent whether data included or excluded women with TSH values outside the 0.5–5.0 mIU/ml euthyroid range.

Interactions of hormones and hemostatic factors in relation to insulin resistance

Based on multiple variable regression, there were important interactions in the association of hemostatic factors with insulin resistance (Table 4Go), and these were not related to race/ethnicity. There was a negative interaction between SHBG and the hemostatic factors, PAI-1 and t-PA, in relation to insulin resistance. As seen in Fig. 1Go, there was a greater insulin resistance in those women whose t-PA was in the highest quintile. However, in women of the highest quintile of t-PA, insulin resistance was significantly higher in those women who had the lower SHBG concentrations compared with women with higher SHBG concentrations. Thus, these interactions indicated that the magnitude of the insulin resistance in relation to a given level of hemostatic factor was related to a specific level of SHBG.


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  		TABLE 4. Beta coefficients (±SE)1 and interactions of the hemostatic factors (H) and reproductive hormones (R) as predictors of insulin resistance after adjustment for site, ethnicity, and time covariates in nondiabetic women

 


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  		FIG. 1. The interactions between lowest, middle, and highest quintiles of PAI-1 and t-PA with SHBG with respect to insulin resistance. A higher SHBG quintile is associated with a lower insulin resistance at each quintile of the hemostatic factors.

 
Although estradiol was not independently associated with insulin resistance in models that included the hemostatic factors, there was a negative and significant interaction of the FEI with fibrinogen in relation to insulin resistance.


   Discussion
Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Subjects and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
References
 
We found a strong inverse association between SHBG concentrations and an index of insulin resistance in this large community-based study of pre- and perimenopausal women without diabetes. This finding is consistent with clinical studies of PCOS in which hyperinsulinemia was reported to have a direct inhibitory effect on hepatic SHBG production (21, 22). Likewise, there were strong associations of hemostatic factors, particularly PAI-1, t-PA, and fibrinogen, with insulin resistance. Importantly, SHBG and the SHBG-based indices for bioavailable testosterone and estradiol modified the association between hemostatic factors and insulin resistance; that is, the magnitude of insulin resistance in relation to a given level of PAI-1, t-PA, or fibrinogen was related to levels of SHBG or the testosterone/SHBG and estradiol/SHBG ratios. With higher SHBG concentrations, there was a dampening of the degree of insulin resistance with these hemostatic factors. These interactions suggest that, even in pre- and early perimenopausal women, the correlations of hemostatic factors with insulin resistance were modified by reproductive hormones and indicate that this may be a productive area for further investigation.

It is recognized that women have higher concentrations of SHBG because SHBG production is promoted by estrogen and inhibited by androgen. Although women with hirsutism or PCOS have elevated androgens and lower SHBG, this study links these characteristics into a broader population that was probably not enriched with women who had PCOS because of the entry criteria for regularity of menstrual bleeding. Finding that SHBG played a strong role in the relation between hemostatic factors and insulin resistance in a large community-based study of menstruating women suggests a potentially important menopausally related mechanism in the expression of heart disease.

In the San Antonio Heart Study, an inverse association between SHBG and insulin concentrations (23) and a decreased SHBG in incident type 2 diabetes has been reported (24). Investigations have shown that insulin decreased SHBG concentrations (25, 26). Additionally, we, like others (27, 28, 29), identified that t-PA and PAI-1 levels were higher in women with diabetes. Stoney et al. (28) and Brandenburg et al. (29) have speculated that women with diabetes may have a greater probability of hemostatic abnormalities than diabetic men. Recently, the Insulin Resistance Atherosclerosis Study identified that men and women with higher baseline levels of fibrinogen and PAI-1 were more likely to have incident diabetes 5 yr later; however, they showed that PAI-1 predicted the development of type 2 diabetes independent of insulin resistance and other known risk factors for diabetes (30). This suggests that exploiting the interaction of SHBG with insulin resistance and hemostatic factors may be a mechanism to address both diabetes and CVD in women.

SHBG could be acting to influence insulin resistance by several mechanisms. First, SHBG could be altering the amount of free testosterone and estradiol available for biological interaction in processes leading to insulin resistance (31). A better test of this would require the direct measurement of bioavailable hormone. Second, SHBG is an allosteric protein with both steroid and membrane-binding sites, so SHBG or one of its isoforms could enter the cells and the SHBG-membrane binding site could be internalized (32). Third, as a binding protein, SHBG may alter fatty acid metabolism profiles seen with insulin resistance (33).

This cross-sectional study of the associations between hemostatic factors and insulin resistance, which includes a documented effect modification by SHBG, cannot be used to determine direction or causality. For example, although an interaction is present, it could reflect that more severe insulin resistance contributed to the lower SHBG and higher PAI-1. It is known that SHBG and hemostatic factors are synthesized by the liver, there is some homology between factors that function in the blood clotting cascade (34), and their covariance could be derived from their being stimulated by similar mechanisms in hepatocytes. Likewise, circulating SHBG concentrations are the manifestation of a controlling factor in the balance between biologically active androgen and estrogens (35). However, the women being evaluated in this study are in the menopausal transition, and the balance is tipped increasingly in favor of increasing androgen relative to the amount of circulating estrogen. This provides a strong motivation for the collection of longitudinal data to compare the hormone and hemostatic factor profiles of women who become increasingly insulin resistant during the menopausal transition vs. those who retain insulin sensitivity and establish temporality of these events.

In summary, we confirmed the previously reported association of hemostatic factors and insulin resistance and diabetes. Additionally, in women without diabetes, we found that whereas hormones, particularly SHBG, were associated with hemostatic factors and insulin, the SHBG concentrations modified the association of the hemostatic factors relationship, particularly PAI-1 and t-PA, with insulin resistance. The biological implications of this interaction have yet to be elucidated. The ongoing observation of hemostatic factors, insulin resistance, and the changes in body composition and ovarian hormones in SWAN enrollees who transition to the postmenopause offers the opportunity to discern whether the interaction contributes to the burden of heart disease and diabetes in these women.


   Footnotes
 
The National Institute on Aging, the National Institute of Nursing Research, and the Office of Research on Women’s Health of the National Institutes of Health funded the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation (SWAN) at clinical sites, laboratories, and a coordinating center.

Abbreviations: BMI, Body mass index; CI, confidence interval(s); CVD, cardiovascular disease; FAI, free androgen index; FEI, free estradiol index; PAI-1, plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1; PCOS, polycystic ovary syndrome; SWAN, Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation; t-PA, tissue plasminogen activator; WHR, waist-to-hip ratio.

Received February 28, 2003.

Accepted June 17, 2003.


   References
Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Subjects and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 

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