Postmenopausal Women Have Higher Blood Pressure

Hormones may play some role in keeping readings low in younger women

WEDNESDAY, July 24, 2002 (HealthDayNews) -- Before menopause, most women have lower blood pressure readings than men of the same age. After menopause, women lose that advantage, suggesting that female hormones may play a role in lowering blood pressure, reports a researcher from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

In a presentation today at a conference jointly sponsored by the Society for Women's Health Research and the University of Wisconsin's School of Medicine, Dr. Suzanne Oparil reviewed studies done on the role of hormone replacement therapy on blood pressure and found that the results to date are inconclusive.

Although hormone replacement therapy may lower blood pressure, the effect isn't significant, she says.

"As far as treatment for high blood pressure in older women, they cannot rely on hormone replacement therapy," says Oparil, who is a professor of medicine and the director of the vascular biology and hypertension program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. "They must take antihypertensive medications, exercise and keep their weight down."

Oparil's remarks were made at the conference titled Sex Differences in Cardiovascular Health and Disease.

Part of the reason blood pressure rises as women get older is simply the aging process, Oparil explains.

When women are younger, their arteries are like rubber bands, she says. As women age, the arteries become more fibrous, and are more like rope. So, the heart then has to pump harder to get the blood out to the arteries because there is more resistance. This, she says, creates a higher systolic number -- that's the top number on a blood pressure measurement.

Researchers are still trying to discover what effects estrogen has on blood pressure, if any, she adds. Some say that the rise in blood pressure after menopause may be coincidental. For example, many women gain weight after menopause, and Oparil says that some scientists feel that weight gain is what causes the higher blood pressure readings.

One thing researchers are sure of, however, is that high blood pressure is a serious problem for older women.

"Hypertension is practically endemic in older women," says Oparil. And, she adds, it often goes undiagnosed, putting women at risk for heart disease and stroke.

Yet few women realize their risk, which is one of the reasons the Society for Women's Health Research sponsored the conference. According to a study the society conducted in June, less than 6 percent of American women worry most about heart disease or stroke, while 60 percent fear cancer.

"One in 36 women will die of breast cancer, but one in 2.4 die from cardiovascular disease," points out Dr. Pamela Marcovitz, director of the Ministrelli Women's Heart Center at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Mich.

That's why it's so important to get your blood pressure under control, according to both Oparil and Marcovitz.

"High blood pressure is the most common modifiable risk factor for heart disease," says Oparil.

First, she says, women need to know what their numbers are. If the nurse or doctor doesn't tell you what it is, ask. It should be less than 140/90, and, according to Marcovitz, the ideal blood pressure is probably around 125/80 or lower. If you've been diagnosed with high blood pressure, you will probably need to take blood pressure lowering drugs, but changing your lifestyle can also lower your blood pressure.

Both doctors recommend exercise and eating right to bring those numbers down.

What To Do

To learn more about high blood pressure, visit the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute or the American Medical Association.

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