title: High normotension is associated with higher metabolic syndrome risk in postmenopausal women.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Cardiovascular disease and diabetes are important causes for mortality in older people. Both hypertension and prehypertension are correlated with them. Recently, health promotion and disease prevention in postmenopausal women have become an essential issue of public health policy. The present study aimed to evaluate whether the harmful effects of blood pressure (BP) could still be found in normotensive postmenopausal women (below 120/80 mmHg).
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 4539 normotensive postmenopausal women aged 51 years or older, undergoing routine health examinations, were enrolled in the cross-sectional analyses. To mitigate the effect of age on BP, participants within the same age were divided into tertiles according to their systolic BP (SBP). Then, participants in the low-SBP tertile of each age stratum were pooled together to form a larger group (low-normal SBP group [LNSBP]). Similarly, the middle- and high-normal SBP were grouped accordingly (MNSBP and HNSBP). Metabolic syndrome (MetS) was considered to be a surrogate for future cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The study showed that HNSBP bore a higher likelihood of having abnormal MetS components, elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels and a higher odds ratio (1.46; 95% confidence interval 1.17-1.81) for having MetS than LNSBP. In contrast, age, body mass index, fasting plasma glucose and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol were significantly related to SBP in multiple regression analysis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The risk of having MetS was significantly associated with higher SBP even within normotension. Primary prevention, such as lifestyle modification, and more strict control of BP should be stressed in postmenopausal women.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Cardinal Tien Hospital, School of Medicine, Fu Jen Catholic University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chun-Hsien
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.forename: Jiunn-Diann
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Chung-Ze
authors.initials: CZ
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Shu Chuen
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Lau
authors.forename: Yen-Lin
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Sai-Hung
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Shu-Man
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Dee
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pei
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001794:Blood Pressure; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D017698:Postmenopause; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors
keywords: metabolic syndrome; normotension; postmenopausal women; preventive geriatrics; primary prevention