title: Effect of age at menopause on blood pressure in postmenopausal women.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A major mechanism of hypertension in many postmenopausal women is deficiency of female gonadal steroids. A long postmenopausal period may thus represent one factor that influences the prevalence of hypertension because of long periods of estrogen loss.
  
  
  METHODS
  When we conducted a medical survey in northwestern China, we also asked 150 postmenopausal female subjects to provide age at menopause in a questionnaire. Age at menopause ranged from 37 to 57 years for all subjects. Systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) in all subjects were obtained from 24-h ambulatory blood-pressure monitoring.
  
  
  RESULTS
  An inverse correlation was identified between age at menopause and SBP and DBP, and a positive correlation was found between postmenopausal period and either SBP or DBP. Blood pressure, age at menopause, and postmenopausal period were not significantly related to body mass index, plasma renin activity, glomerular filtration rate, or urinary excretion values of sodium and potassium.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results clearly demonstrated that higher blood-pressure levels in postmenopausal women depend on age at menopause and postmenopausal period, but not subjects' age, suggesting that a longer absence of female gonadal steroids represents a major factor contributing to increased blood pressure in elderly women.
authors: Division of Nephrology and Endocrinology, Department of Medicine, Nihon University School of Medicine, Itabashiku, Tokyo, Japan. yoizumi@med.nihon-u.ac.jp
authors: Yoichi
authors: Y
authors: Izumi
authors: Koichi
authors: K
authors: Matsumoto
authors: Yukio
authors: Y
authors: Ozawa
authors: Yuji
authors: Y
authors: Kasamaki
authors: Atsusi
authors: A
authors: Shinndo
authors: Masakatsu
authors: M
authors: Ohta
authors: Madet
authors: M
authors: Jumabay
authors: Tomohiro
authors: T
authors: Nakayama
authors: Eise
authors: E
authors: Yokoyama
authors: Hiroaki
authors: H
authors: Shimabukuro
authors: Hiroshi
authors: H
authors: Kawamura
authors: Zuheng
authors: Z
authors: Cheng
authors: Yitong
authors: Y
authors: Ma
authors: Masum
authors: M
authors: Mahmut
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D002681:China; D004967:Estrogens / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008593:Menopause / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D017698:Postmenopause / Q000502:physiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D004967:Estrogens