Which Is the Endothelium-Dependent “Fair Sex” in Hypertension?

Abstract

In a recent issue of The Journal of Clinical Hypertension, Rutledge and colleagues by using a cross-sectional design reported that endothelial dysfunction at conduit vessels was more impaired in middle-aged women compared with men of similar age with untreated and uncomplicated mild hypertension. Participants of both sexes were overweight, with well-preserved lipid, glycemic, and kidney function profiles. Although smoking status and alcohol intake did not differ among the sex-oriented arms of the study, men were more physically active compared with women as assessed by actigraphy. Less than one third of women were in a postmenopausal state, and among premenopausal women, 83% resided in luteal or follicular phase of the menstrual cycle. Patients with high clinical suspicion for sleep apnea syndrome or illness with potential confounding effect on the association under investigation were preliminarily excluded. Measurements of 24-hour blood pressure were implemented to better determine the overall hemodynamic load, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein was measured in order to provide evidence of the underlying low-grade inflammation in both sexes. Endothelial dysfunction was measured by flow-mediated vasodilation technique further complemented by evaluation of shear stress ratio (ie, hyperemic ⁄baseline shear stress), a valuable index of the hyperemic physical stimulus. For the same level of hemodynamic and systemic inflammatory load after adjustment for confounders including baseline arterial diameter, endothelial-mediated vasodilation was more impaired in women independently of the menopausal status compared with men. By contrast, nonendothelial-mediated vasodilation did not differ between men and women. Rutledge and colleagues suggested that mild hypertension in middle-aged women (40–60 years) has a more detrimental impact on the vasculature with respect to men, a finding that challenges the previous knowledge on the natural history of endothelial dysfunction among sexes. Since 17% of the studied women were in postmenopausal status, the effect of menopause could not be ruled out solely by statistical means; however, the protective role of premenopausal status might be attenuated in hypertension and anticipate much earlier the postmenopausal decline of endothelial function. In a previous pivotal study performed almost 15 years ago, normoweight men and women (age range 20–76 years) with and without hypertension and well-preserved metabolic profile were studied by comparative evaluation of endothelial function determined at the microcirculatory bed in order to address whether menopause is associated with impairment in endothelium-dependent vasodilation. Investigators suggested that the hormonal mechanism protecting endothelial function is still preserved in hypertensive premonopausal women, and hypertension per se did not alter the sex-oriented natural history of endothelial dysfunction in middle-aged patients. The two studies reported divergent results, but their design was by far different. Indeed, the American study recruited 90 untreated participants with stage 1 hypertension, while the Italian study enrolled hypertensive patients who were previously treated with antihypertensive medications after a washout period of >2 weeks. Additionally, the American study investigated endothelial dysfunction at conduit vessels, while the Italian investigation observed the endothelial-dependent vasodilation at microcirculation. Based on the above, the impact of the previously administered antihypertensive therapy may confound the comparative evaluation of endothelial function at different levels of the vasculature. The cardiovascular risk Young Finns Study recruited men and women aged 24–39 years without hypertension and obesity, and men demonstrated better endothelial-mediated vasodilation as compared with women after adjustment for hemodynamic and metabolic parameters, as well as for baseline arterial diameter. Of note, systolic blood pressure did not contribute to the sex-oriented difference of flowmediated vasodilation. Although the Scandinavian Study did not include African Americans, the study by Rutledge and colleagues did not find any differential impact on the outcome in sex by race interaction. The Scandinavian and American studies taken together suggest that premenopausal women without hypertension present with better endothelial function at their conduit vessels as compared with men, whereas the presence of hypertension may reverse the direction of this association. Accordingly, premenopausal development of hypertension may neutralize the beneficial effect of estrogens on the vasculature or, by contrast, the vasculature in these hypertensive women is less responsive to estrogens. Indeed, estradiol, above its favorable effects on nitric oxide production, has been suggested to inhibit renin release and the angiotensin-converting enzyme, whereas in a hypertensive substrate, these effects might not be efficient to preserve a better endothelial-dependent vasodilation in women compared with men. Because of the small sample study size drawn from a larger cohort, the inclusion of women before and after menopause and the more impaired glycemic profile of men compared with women, further well-designed From the Department of Cardiology, Helena Venizelou Hospital, Athens, Greece; and the First Cardiology Clinic, University of Athens, Hippokration Hospital, Athens, Greece