does menopause affect white blood count

does menopause affect white blood count ? we always hear about menopause, white blood cell count and many other medical terms without understanding them, So, to help everyone to understand these medical terms; our teamwork on recent research studies site decided to explain these terms beside understanding a new study which connects between menopause and white blood cells.

What is menopause?

Menopause term is defined as a phenomenon occurs to women between the age of (45: 55 years), at which the women exposed to an absence of menstrual activity, and this occurs because they lose the development of ovarian follicles by they age.

We can say that the woman reached the Menopause age when there are consecutive 12 months without menstrual activity after her last menstrual cycle.

The years before menopause is called (the menopausal transition phase or perimenopause), and during this phase, the women exposed to many changes such as the change in the length of menstrual cycles, hot flashes, and during this period there are also some disorders occur in the production of hormones such as the progesterone and the estrogen

During this transition phase, the woman’s ovary produces less amount of estrogen, therefore there is a decrease in 17β-estradiol level, while there is an increase in the level of another hormone called (follicle stimulating hormone), and once reaching the menopause she develops estrogen hormone deficiency.

Menopause leads to many health disorders such as cognitive impairments, low bone density, physiological disorders, low muscle strength, highly change in body mass and so on.

What is White blood cells

Our blood consists mainly of white blood cells, red blood cells, platelets, and the plasma, while white blood cells represent only 1 % of whole blood, but it has a very big impact inside our bodies because it protects us from many infections and diseases.

White blood cells also called leukocytes or immune cells because it considered the main component of the immune system, it moves through the bloodstream and destroys any microorganism threatens our health.

These cells formed in the bone marrow and stored in our blood and inside lymph tissues, and there are many types of white blood cells includes Neutrophils, Monocytes, Lymphocytes, Basophils, and Eosinophils.

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does menopause affect white blood count

In a recent study which focused on the transformation phase between premenopause and postmenopause, the researchers found that during the postmenopause time the woman suffers from a decrease in the number of white blood cells especially in the number of neutrophils, while the number of lymphocytes is higher in postmenopause than in perimenopause, and the lymphocyte count differs with the level of some hormones such as follicle stimulating hormone and Estradiol.

the study also referred that some white blood cells types such as lymphocytes and neutrophils are considered the main mediators of some inflammatory reactions, and the low-grade inflammations may be increased with aging, so that, the menopausal women may suffer from many types of chronic diseases.

These results are thought to give important data about the hormonal disorders during menopause which will help the scientists to improve and enhance the health of woman at menopause age.

does menopause affect platelets number

Platelets play a very important role in thrombosis process; so it is the key of endometrial hemostasis after menstrual. In menopause, there’s a low level of estrogen hormone which may be responsible for the low platelets count, besides the decrease of platelets activation during post-menopause.

Blood profile of post-menopause woman

Some studies showed that the menopause women have a higher level of (Red blood cells count, Hemoglobin, Mean cell volume, and Hematocrit), These results are attributed to the hormonal disorders during menopause besides the cessation of menstrual (bleeding) which cause a high level of iron deficiency.

source 1: https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?ContentID=35&ContentTypeID=160

source 2: https://www.gerec.fi/en/estrogen-regulation-of-muscle-apoptosis-erma-study

source 3: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature12932

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