Abstract
Background: The incidence of cardiovascular complications may increase after menopause. Hypertension (HTN) is one of the most remarkable causes leading to heart disease. The increased prevalence of HTN is associated with aging, causing adverse cardiovascular events in postmenopausal elderly women.
Objectives: The present study aimed to compare HTN with the increasing age of elderly postmenopausal women with cardiovascular disease (CVD) and then to find an association between estradiol (E2) levels and the increased prevalence of HTN in these women.
Methods: The present cross-sectional study recruited 265 cases of menopausal women suffering from CVD and 258 controls as menopausal women not suffering from CVD. Serum E2 and serum follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) were estimated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits. HTN was assessed in accordance with the guidelines of the Joint National Committee (VII) of high blood pressure. Anthropometric measurements such as weight, height, hip circumference, waist circumference (WC), waist-hip ratio, and body mass index (BMI) for all menopausal women were recorded according to the World Health Organization (WHO) (WHO) 2000 protocol.
Results: Overall, cases of>45.1 years of the menopausal age group conferred more risk toward CVD as compared to cases of≤45 years of the menopausal age group. A significant positive correlation (P<0.05) was detected for E2 with HTN and obesity profile with increasing age at menopause.
Conclusion: High prevalence of HTN irrespective of the early onset of menopause is one of the crucial risk factors for CVD. Our findings revealed a significant positive correlation of HTN with age at menopause>45.1 years, along with increased levels of E2. Women in this age group were observed to be obese.