Determinants of elevated blood pressure in women around menopause: results from a cross-sectional study in Italy

Abstract

Objective: To analyse the determinants of high blood pressure in women around menopause. Methods: Eligible women were consecutively identified among patients who asked for a visit of their general practitioner during the period March–November 1997. A total of 22 919 women aged 44–66 years (median age 55 years), were identified. Women whose mean of the second and third of the three measures of diastolic blood pressure values performed during interview was >90 mm of mercury and/or reporting any type of current pharmacological treatment for elevated blood pressure were considered hypertensive. Results: In comparison with women aged 40–50 years, the multivariate odds ratio (OR) of elevated blood pressure were 1.4 in women aged 51–55, 2.0 in those aged 56–60 and 2.7 in those aged ≥61. In comparison with women with a body mass index (kg m −2) <25, the OR of elevated blood pressure was 1.7 and 2.7, respectively, for women with a BMI of 25–28 and ≥29. In comparison with women reporting a low level of physical activity, the OR of elevated blood pressure were 0.9 (95%, confidence interval, CI 0.7–1.0) and 0.7 (95% CI 0.4–0.9), respectively, for those reporting an intermediate or high level of activity. In comparison with premenopausal women, the OR of elevated blood pressure was, after taking into account the confounding effect of age, 1.6 (95% CI 1.0–1.4) in post menopausal ones. The OR of elevated blood pressure was 0.8 (95% CI 0.7–0.9), for current users of hormone replacement therapy (HRT), but no clear association emerged with duration of HRT pressure. Conclusions: This study suggests that, after taking into account the effect of age, post-menopausal women are at higher risk of the condition, and current HRT use decreases the risk. Other main determinants of risk of elevated blood pressure were overweight and low physical activity.