title: The relationship between calcium metabolism, insulin-like growth factor-1 and pulse pressure in normotensive, normolipidaemic and non-diabetic patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Recent evidence suggests an interaction between bone metabolism and blood pressure (BP) regulation. The aim of our study was to evaluate endocrinological and metabolic factors related to pulse pressure (PP) in normotensive, normolipidaemic, non-smoker subjects.
  
  
  METHODS
  We consecutively enrolled 156 adults (37 males, 119 females) in summer 2009. The BP and body mass index (BMI) were recorded, and serum samples were taken for 25-hydroxy vitamin D (25-OHD), insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), growth hormone (GH), parathormone (PTH), calcium, albumin, phosphorus, glucose, triglyceride and cholesterol levels.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the postmenopausal group, PP was significantly associated with age and BMI, while in premenopausal patients it was inversely related to ionized calcium. In men, a reverse relationship was present between GH and IGF-1 levels and PP.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The PP was predicted by different parameters in different genders and these predictors change even in the same gender before and after menopause. Well-known predictors of PP such as age and BMI were more pronounced in postmenopausal women, but none of the groups showed a relationship between PP and 25-OHD or PTH.
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases, Ufuk University Medical Faculty, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Sibel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ertek
authors.forename: Arrigo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Francesco Cicero
authors.forename: Gürbüz
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Erdoğan