MON-LB7 Assessment of Endothelial Dysfunction by Flow Mediated Dilation in Postmenopausal Women

Abstract

Menopause is defined by the World Health Organization as the permanent cessation of menses as a result of the loss of ovarian follicular Function or surgical removal of ovary. Menopausal health demands priority in Indian scenario due to increase in life expectancy and growing population of menopausal women. It is well known that cardiovascular risk is higher in postmenopausal women than in premenopausal women, but it is unclear how much of the elevated risk is related to aging, menopause itself or presence of other confounding factors. Endothelial dysfunction is one of the most important predictors for determining early atherosclerotic risks as it precedes overt vascular disease by years and may itself be a potentially modifiable risk factor. Although no gold standard for the measurement of endothelial function exists, the measurement of flow mediated dilation (FMD) in the brachial artery, assessed with Doppler ultrasonography, is the most studied method and seems most promising for clinical application.objective - To compare effect of menopause on endothelial dysfunction by brachial artery flow mediated dilation (BAFMD) in postmenopausal women versus menstruating non-diabetic, non-obese females of same age group. Methodology: We conducted a case control study in Departments of Obstetrics & Gynaecology and Cardiology, PGIMER, Chandigarh.Subjects were menopausal women between 45- 55 years of age.Controls included the women of same age group who had not attained menopause.To detect a statistical significant difference of approximately 4-8% between cases and controls,50 women were recruited in both groups with a power of 90% and confidence interval of 95%. The study was approved by the ethics committee of the institute. Effect of menopause on BAFMD, NMD (nitro-glycerine mediated dilation), FRS (Framingham Risk score) and individual components of FRS was studied.Results: A statistically significant negative correlation was found between BAFMD and FRS, BAFMD and age and BAFMD and duration of menopause.On studying the effects of FRS, individual components of FRS and duration of menopause on smooth muscle function, statistically significant negative correlation was found between NMD and FRS and NMD and AgeConclusion:It was concluded that the menopausal status does not affect endothelial function in women who are at low risk of cardiovascular disease but it affects the vascular smooth muscle function. We also found significant correlation between FMD and NMD (p = 0.00) signifying that both endothelial dysfunction and vascular smooth muscle dysfunction are inter-related. On evaluating the strength of correlation of FMD with FRS, different parameters of FRS and duration of menopause, FMD was found to have a statistically significant negative correlation with all these parameters.