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Physical activity and endogenous sex hormones in postmenopausal women: to what extent are observed associations confounded or modified by BMI?

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Abstract

Objectives

To investigate associations between physical activity and endogenous sex hormones after menopause with a special focus on confounding and effect modification by body mass index (BMI).

Methods

A cross-sectional study among 1,260 postmenopausal women was conducted. Generalized linear models were used to compare levels of total leisure-time physical activity, sports activities, bicycling, and walking with levels of sex hormones and sex-hormone-binding-globulin (SHBG).

Results

Higher sports activity levels were significantly associated with lower levels of estrone and total and free testosterone in multivariate adjusted models. After additional adjustment for BMI, associations with estrone and free testosterone were attenuated; the association with total testosterone remained unchanged. No physical activity variable was significantly related to total and free estradiol, androstenedione, or SHBG. We did not observe effect modification by BMI.

Conclusions

Sports activities may lead to lower levels of estrone and testosterone in postmenopausal women. While effects on estrone and free testosterone seem to be largely mediated by BMI, effects on total testosterone appear to be mainly independent of BMI. The BMI-independent effects on these hormones (especially on total testosterone) could at least partly explain why physical activity has been frequently reported to be preventive for postmenopausal breast cancer, even after accounting for BMI.

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Acknowledgments

We thank A. Benner, S. Henke, B. Kaspereit, and B. Lederer for their valuable technical assistance and A. Lukanova for helpful comments on the manuscript. World Cancer Research Fund (grant number 2008/30) funded personnel (M. Schmidt. and B. Kaspereit) and laboratory material; Deutsche Krebshilfe e. V. (grant number 70-2892-BR I) funded the MARIE-study; German Research Foundation (DFG, GRK grant number 793) funded S. Liedtke.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unit of Environmental Epidemiology, German Cancer Research Center, Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany

    Stefanie Liedtke, Martina E. Schmidt, Jürgen Wahrendorf & Karen Steindorf

  2. Division of Cancer Epidemiology, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany

    Susen Becker, Rudolf Kaaks, Aida Karina Zaineddin, Katharina Buck & Jenny Chang-Claude

  3. Department of Medical Biometry and Epidemiology, Center for Experimental Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany

    Dieter Flesch-Janys

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  1. Stefanie Liedtke
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Correspondence to Karen Steindorf.

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Liedtke, S., Schmidt, M.E., Becker, S. et al. Physical activity and endogenous sex hormones in postmenopausal women: to what extent are observed associations confounded or modified by BMI?. Cancer Causes Control 22, 81–89 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-010-9677-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-010-9677-4

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