Objective: The aim of this study was to confirm the potential role of testosterone in hypertension and target organ damage (TOD) in hypertensive postmenopausal women.
Methods: A matched group study was conducted. One hundred sixty-one hypertensive postmenopausal women between 45 and 65 years of age were enrolled as group 1. Another 161 age-matched hypertensive men were enrolled as group 2. Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, echocardiographic imaging, vascular function, sex hormones and clinical characteristics were evaluated. Quantitative data were analyzed using independent Student’s t -test and multiple regression analysis.
Results: The mean and load level of blood pressure were lower in women than in men (P <0.05), except for the mean level and load of the nocturnal systolic blood pressure (SBP) (123.77±15.72 mmHg vs 126.35±15.64 mmHg, and 50.43±30.31% vs 55.35±28.51%, P >0.05). However, the carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cf-PWV) in women was higher than that in men (9.68±2.23 m/s vs 8.03±2.82 m/s, P <0.05). The ratio of the early diastolic mitral peak flow velocity to early diastolic mitral annular velocity (E/Em) was obviously impaired (13.06±3.53 vs 12.05±3.68, P <0.05) in women. Furthermore, in women, a positive correlation was found between testosterone and cf-PWV (γ=0.157, P =0.046), and Cf-PWV was positively related to the mean level of nighttime SBP (γ=0.210, P =0.008). Moreover, nocturnal SBP was a risk factor for E/Em (γ=0.156, P =0.048, P <0.05).
Conclusion: Testosterone may play a role in the correlation between hypertension and TOD in hypertensive postmenopausal women.
Clinical Trial number: This research study was registered under the ClinicalTrials.gov PRS Website (NCT03451747).
Keywords: postmenopausal women, hypertensive, left ventricular diastolic function, carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity, testosterone