Background: Menopausal health in our environment has received little
attention. As an independent risk factor for dyslipidaemia, the degree
and pattern of derangement, though difficult to assess may adversely
affect the cardiovascular health of our women. Objectives: To estimate
the serum lipid profile and the atherogenic index of plasma in normal
post menopausal women. Methods: This is a cross sectional study
involving 80 apparently healthy women voluntarily recruited from staff
of the University of Nigeria and the Teaching Hospital (iJNTH) located
in Enugu. They include 50 postmenopausal subjects aged between 50 and
70 years and 30 premenopausal controls aged between 25 and 49 years.
Total cholesterol (TC), and the various subfractions ;high density
lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), very low density lipoprotein
cholesterol (VLDL-C), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and
triglycerides (TG) were determined. Atherogenic index of plasma (AIP);
log (TG/HDIrC) was calculated. Results: There were statistically
significant increases (P< 0.0001) in TC, TG, LDL-C, VLDL-C and AIP
but a statistically significant decrease (P<0.0001) in HDL-C in
postmenopausal women when compared with the premenopausal subjects.
Except HDIrC that showed insignificant reduction, there were
statistically significant derangement of other lipid subfractions as
the duration of menopause increased. Conclusion: Menopause, no doubt
alters lipid profile. A triglyceride based index (AIP) can
significantly add value when assessing the risk of developing
atherosclerosis in Nigeria