Prevalence of ischemia on myocardial perfusion scintigraphy of pre-and postmenopausal women.
BACKGROUND
In postmenopausal women, the presence of risk factors for coronary artery disease (CAD) increases. However, the difference in prevalence of ischemia between pre- and postmenopausal women with multiple risk factors for CAD has not been well established.


OBJECTIVE
To compare the prevalence of ischemia on Tc99m-sestamibi myocardial perfusion scintigraphy (MPS) in pre- and postmenopausal women, and to evaluate whether menopause can be considered an independent risk predictor of ischemia in women with multiple risk factors for CAD.


METHODS
This study retrospectively assessed 500 MPS of pre- and postmenopausal women with multiple risk factors for CAD. Statistical analysis was performed by using Fisher exact test and univariate and multivariate analysis, a p value < 0.05 being considered significant.


RESULTS
Postmenopausal women represented 55.9% of the sample; 83.3% were hypertensive; 28.9%, diabetic; 32.1%, smokers; 25%, obese; 61.2% had high cholesterol levels; and 34.3% had known CAD. Postmenopausal women were more often hypertensive, diabetic and dyslipidemic, and had lower functional capacity on exercise testing (p = < 0.005). The presence of ischemia on MPS did not significantly differ between the pre- and postmenopausal groups (p = 0.395). The only variable associated with ischemia on MPS was known CAD (p = 0.004).


CONCLUSIONS
The results suggest that, in women with multiple risk factors for CAD, menopause was not an independent predictor of ischemia on MPS. Those data support the idea that the investigation of ischemia via MPS in women with multiple risk factors for CAD should begin prior to menopause.
Daniel Augusto Message dos
DA
Santos
Wendy Yasdin Sierraalta
WY
Navarro
Leonardo Machado
LM
Alexandre
Priscila Feitosa
PF
Cestari
Paola Emanuela Poggio
PE
Smanio
D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000175:diagnosis; D050171:Dyslipidemias / Q000175:diagnosis; D005080:Exercise Test / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000175:diagnosis; D008593:Menopause; D008875:Middle Aged; D017202:Myocardial Ischemia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology; D009765:Obesity / Q000175:diagnosis; D017698:Postmenopause; D017697:Premenopause; D015995:Prevalence; D011859:Radiography; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D017256:Technetium Tc 99m Sestamibi
D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D017256:Technetium Tc 99m Sestamibi