Objective:
To study the relationship of 24-hour blood pressure profile, vascular wall stiffness parameters, sex hormone profile, parameters of lipid profile and vascular inflammatory markers in postmenopausal female patients with arterial hypertension (AH).
Design and method:
57 postmenopausal women (mean age 58.23 ± 6.45 years) with AH of moderate and high cardiovascular risk were included in the study. All patients underwent 24-hour blood pressure monitoring and sphygmography. Pulse wave velocity for elastic arteries on the right or the left (PWV-R/L), cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI), ankle-brachial index (ABI); parameters of the lipid profile; inflammatory markers and sex hormone profile were measured.
Results:
AH in postmenopausal female patients are associated with increase in blood pressure variability, increased pressure loading, disturbance of 24-hour blood pressure rhythm, great vessels rigidity (p < 0.05), low level of estrogen (p < 0.001) and increased level of total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL-cholesterol, APO-B (p < 0.01), C-reactive protein, TNF-alpha, endothelin-1, IL-6 and uric acid (p < 0.05). The following positive correlations were found: between PWV-R and systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure variability at night and systolic blood pressure variability in the daytime, IL-6, (p = 0.047), homocysteine (p = 0.015), APO-B (p = 0.048), age (p = 0.01); negative correlation with progesterone. In addition, positive correlations were found between ABI-R and uric acid (p = 0.05), systolic blood pressure variability in the daytime (p = 0.02).
Conclusions:
The parameters of 24-hour blood pressure profile are associated with target organ damage, in particular, with vascular wall stiffness, sex hormone profile and vascular inflammatory reaction in postmenopausal female patients, which can determine the course of hypertension and the development of cerebral and cardiovascular complications.
