Original ArticlePancreas, Biliary Tract, and LiverRhythmic Fluctuations in Levels of Liver Enzymes During Menstrual Cycles of Healthy Women and Effects of Body Weight
Section snippets
BioCycle Study
This is a post hoc analysis of data from the BioCycle study, a prospective longitudinal cohort study designed to determine the association of sex hormones with markers of oxidative stress during the menstrual cycle.7 Briefly, 259 healthy premenopausal women, aged 18–44 years, with a regular menstrual cycle were recruited. Exclusion criteria included the use of hormonal contraceptives, pregnancy or breastfeeding, body mass index (BMI) >35 kg/m2, chronic use of medications, alcohol or substance
Participant Characteristics
Two hundred fifty-nine women participated in the BioCycle study. Four participants were excluded from the analysis, one because of persistently elevated liver enzymes consistent with chronic hepatitis and three for transient elevations >100 U/L, consistent with an episode of acute hepatitis. The characteristics of the remaining 255 participants are detailed in Table 1. As expected, women with a higher BMI had significantly higher ALT, ALKP, and triglycerides, as well as a trend for higher
Discussion
Reproductive hormones have been shown to influence organs beyond the reproductive system.8,19, 20, 21, 22 Using data from BioCycle, the largest prospective study investigating multiple biochemical measurements in healthy menstruating women,7 we identified a rhythmic fluctuation of liver enzyme levels during the menstrual cycle that is tightly associated with the fluctuations in sex hormone levels.
We found that ALT and AST peak at the mid-follicular phase and reach a nadir just before
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2021, Systematic Reviews in Pharmacy
Conflicts of interest The authors disclose no conflicts.
Funding This work and E.F.S. and S.L.M. were supported by the Intramural Research Program of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland (contract number: HHSN275200403394C, HHSN275201100002I, Task 1 HHSN27500001). C.W.L., S.J., B.N., and Y.R. were supported by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
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Authors share co-first authorship.