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Ep. 640 Cardiovascular Risk Markers in Midlife Women |Menopause, Perimenopause, Heart Health
Description
Welcome to the latest Midlife Minute.
Today, I’m answering listeners’ questions about cardiovascular risk, focusing on Lp(a), LDL, statins, and the changes women experience after menopause.
Stay tuned for more!
IN THIS EPISODE, YOU WILL LEARN:
Why women should have their Lp(a) checked both before and after menopause
How Lp(a) works as a risk enhancer, and how cardiovascular risk becomes more significant when elevated Lp(a) occurs alongside high LDL
Why family history is particularly helpful for women with a 10-year calculated cardiovascular risk that looks reassuringly low
I review the current guidelines for primary prevention
Why, even though research has shown reductions in major cardiac events with GLP-1s, GLP-1s do not replace statins for lowering LDL
What a CAC score can reveal about coronary artery calcification, and what it cannot detect
How AI-assisted CT angiography (such as Clearly) can map, quantify, and characterize plaque throughout the coronary branches
Connect with Cynthia Thurlow
Check out Cynthia’s website.
Submit your questions to support@cynthiathurlow.com
Join other like-minded women in a supportive, nurturing community: The Midlife Pause/Cynthia Thurlow.
Purchase Cynthia’s book, The Menopause Gut.
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References:
1. Lipoprotein(a) and Women's Cardiovascular Health: A Review. JACC. Advances. 2026. Michos ED, Saucier S, Mehran R, Koschinsky ML.Recent
2. Sex Differences of Lipoprotein(a) Levels and Associated Risk of Morbidity and Mortality by Age: The Copenhagen General Population Study. Atherosclerosis. 2022. Simony SB, Mortensen MB, Langsted A, et al.
3. Managing Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Risk in Young Adults: JACC State-of-the-Art Review. Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 2022. Stone NJ, Smith SC, Orringer CE, et al.Review
4. Thirty-Year Risk of Cardiovascular Disease Among Healthy Women According to Clinical Thresholds of Lipoprotein(a). JAMA Cardiology. 2026. Nordestgaard AT, Chasman DI, Moorthy V, et al.RecentObservational
5. Lipoprotein(a).The Journal of the American Medical Association. 2025. Mora S, Kronenberg
6. Clinical Practice Guideline on Lipid Management for Cardiovascular Disease Risk Reduction.
Department of Veterans Affairs (2026). 2026. Paul Heidenreich, Lance Spacek, Neil Gregor, et al. Guideline
7. Lipoprotein(a) and Family History Predict Cardiovascular Disease Risk.
Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 2020. Mehta A, Virani SS, Ayers CR, et al.Observational
8. 2010 ACCF/AHA Guideline for Assessment of Cardiovascular Risk in Asymptomatic Adults: A Report of the American College of Cardiology Foundation/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines. Journal of the American