Endocrine Abstracts

Chronotype is defined as a trait determining the subject circadian preference in behavioral and biological rhythms relative to external light-dark cycle.The morning chronotype (MC) prefers activities earlier in the day, while the evening chronotype (EC) perform its main activity late in the day. Intermediate chronotype (IC) is in an intermediate position between MC and EC. EC as well as menopause have been associated to an increased risk of cardiometabolic diseases (CMD) in obesity. However, the prevalence of chronotype categories in menopause and their role in determining menopause-related CMD, mostly in obesity, have not been investigated. Thus, we aimed to investigate the prevalence of chronotype categories in post-menopausal women (PMW) with obesity and their role in menopause-related cardiometabolic risk. In this cross-sectional study we enrolled 49 pre-menopausal (PW) and 74 PMW with obesity. Anthropometric parameters, lifestyle habits, adherence to the Mediterranean Diet (MD), sleep quality, chronotype and the presence of CMD were studied. No significance differences were detected in terms of lifestyle, antropometric parameters and adherence to the MD between PMW and PW. Chronotype was classified as MC in 66 (53.6%), EC in 20 (16.3%) and IC in 37 (30.1%) women. In addition, PW with obesity showed a significantly higher chance to have IC (P = 0.004) whereas PMW with obesity showed a trend to have a MC (P = 0.051) although it did not reach statistical significance. However, EC had a significant higher risk to have T2DM compared to MC (P = 0.005) and to the intermediate chronotype (P = 0.013) in PMW with obesity. In conclusion, IC was significantly more prevalent in PW with obesity compared to PMW. EC was associated to T2DM in PMW. These results support the importance of including the assessment of chronotype in the management of PMW.