Ovarian Angst

Some anxious monkeys in North Carolina are showing medical researchers just how damaging stress can be to women's health. It goes straight to the ovaries.

Like humans, monkeys show signs of stress physically and behaviorally when having to organize their social life. In the monkey world, it's a matter of jockeying for social position in groups.

While constantly scanning their environment for signs of aggression from big shots, the stressed-out simians oversecrete stress-related hormones in their brains, which in turn throw their ovaries into hormonal disarray. They not only may become infertile, but they are at higher risk for osteoporosis and heart disease.

These monkeys have reduced concentrations of estrogen and other hormones in their menstrual cycles, reports Carol Shivel, Ph.D., associate professor of comparative medicine at Bowman Gray School of Medicine. "The concentrations can be low enough that the uterus couldn't support a fertilized egg or so low that a person never ovulates." The estrogen deprivation can lead to atherosclerosis and bone thinning,disorders that can be prevented with estrogen-replacement therapy in women.

Here's the most alarming part: The monkeys cycled through the stress, which obscured any clue to the problem. "One of the only ways women know their ovaries aren't functioning is if they just stop cycling," says Shivel.

Even women who have their period can still have ovarian dysfunction that is significant enough to degenerate the blood vessels i and bones for decades--and not realize it. The menstrual cycle turns out to be a very sensitive index of general health.

So relax. It may save your life. But in the meantime, perhaps bone-density and hormone-concentration testing should be a routine part of a woman's annual physical.

PHOTO: Estrogen, portrait of an endangered sex hormone.