ABSTRACT
AIM: The morbidity of hypertension increases with aging although the exact relationship between hypertension and menopause has not been clearly elucidated. Therefore we set out to clarify the effects of aging and menopause upon women's vascular systems. METHODS: We divided 151 elderly and middle-aged women into 3 groups (premenopause group, menopause group and post-menopause group). We measured height, weight, blood pressure (BP), total cholesterol (T-chol), HDL-cholesterol (HDL-chol), LDL-cholesterol (LDL-chol), high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), creatinine (Cr), triglyceride (TG), fasting blood glucose (FPG), IRI, HOMA-R, brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV), augmentation index (AI), percentage of flow-mediated dilatation (%FMD), and echocardiography. RESULTS: In the post-menopause and menopause groups systolic BP and AI were significantly higher than those in the pre-menopause group. There was a significant difference in systolic BP between the post-menopause group and menopause group. In the post-menopause group, baPWV, Cr, and hsCRP were significantly higher than those in the pre-menopause group. There was significant difference in baPWV between the post-menopause group and menopause group. In the post-menopause group, %FMD and eGFR were significantly lower than those in other 2 groups. In the post-menopause group and the menopause group, E/A was significantly lower than in the pre-menopause group. There was also a significant difference in E/A between the post-menopause group and the menopause group. CONCLUSIONS: Elevated blood pressure, atherosclerosis and endothelial dysfunction were associated with aging and menopause in their present study. These results suggest that understanding women's cardiovascular changes which accompany aging are important for women's health care and prevention of cardiovascular events.
