title: Plasma prolactin level and risk of incident hypertension in postmenopausal women.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Laboratory and cross-sectional human studies suggest a potential role for prolactin in the pathogenesis of hypertension; however, the prospective association between prolactin and hypertension has not been previously reported.
  
  
  METHODS
  We prospectively examined the association between daytime plasma prolactin levels and the risk of incident hypertension among 874 postmenopausal women who were participants of the Nurses' Health Study. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to adjust for potential confounders.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We identified 183 incident cases of hypertension during 8 years of follow-up. After adjusting for potential confounders, the relative risk of hypertension for a 1-standard deviation higher plasma prolactin was 1.31 (95% confidence interval 1.05-1.62). Compared with women with plasma prolactin levels of 8.0 ng/ml or below, the multivariable relative risk of incident hypertension for those with prolactin levels above 8.0 ng/ml was 1.34 (95% confidence interval 0.90-1.99).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A higher daytime plasma prolactin level is independently associated with an increased risk of incident hypertension among postmenopausal women.
authors.affiliation: Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA. nhlzh@channing.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Luxia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Gary C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Curhan
authors.forename: John P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Forman
mesh_terms: D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D017698:Postmenopause; D011388:Prolactin / Q000097:blood*; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012306:Risk; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D011388:Prolactin
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