Key result
Postmenopausal women demonstrated greater systolic blood pressure reactivity to mental stress (15.4 mm Hg) compared to men (11.7 mm Hg) and premenopausal women (12.4 mm Hg; p < 0.050).
Why the study?
Do postmenopausal women demonstrate greater cardiovascular stress reactivity during mental stress tasks compared to premenopausal women and men?
Cross-Sectional (n=979)
Do postmenopausal women demonstrate greater cardiovascular stress reactivity during mental stress tasks compared to premenopausal women and men?
Effect estimate: partial η = 0.015
Absolute Event Rate: 15.4% vs 11.7%
p-value: p=< .050
Postmenopausal women exhibit greater cardiovascular stress reactivity compared to men and premenopausal women, which may contribute to their higher risk of cardiovascular diseases.
May link menopause to higher CVD risk via stress reactivity; hypothesis-generating and requires prospective confirmation before clinical consideration.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the hypothesis that postmenopausal women demonstrate greater cardiovascular stress reactivity during mental stress tasks than do both premenopausal women and men. METHODS: The study included 979 Japanese participants (338 men and 641 women [238 postmenopausal]) aged 16 to 82 years. Blood pressure, heart rate, heart rate variability, and peripheral blood flow were measured at rest and during a mirror drawing stress task and a maze task. Differences between measured variables during tasks and at rest were calculated and considered to represent reactivity to stress. Analyses were adjusted for age and other potential confounding factors. RESULTS: After adjusting for multiple factors, significant group effects were found for systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure, heart rate, low-frequency (LF), LF/high-frequency, and peripheral blood flow (effect size: partial η = 0.015, 0.011, 0.013, 0.013, 0.008, and 0.009, respectively). Postmenopausal women were more reactive than men to stress for SBP (15.4 ± 0.8 versus 11.7 ± 0.6 mm Hg), diastolic blood pressure (10.4 ± 0.6 versus 8.0 ± 0.5 mm Hg), heart rate (2.7 ± 0.5 versus 0.7 ± 0.4 beats/min), LF (23.0 ± 5.2 versus 3.2 ± 3.8 ms/Hz), and peripheral blood flow (-39.0 ± 3.8 versus -25.9 ± 2.8 Laser Doppler Perfusion Units) and more reactive than premenopausal women (p < .050) for SBP (15.4 ± 0.8 versus. 12.4 ± 0.5 mm Hg) and LF/high-frequency (1.7 ± 0.1 versus 1.3 ± 0.1). CONCLUSIONS: Postmenopausal Japanese women evidenced greater cardiovascular stress reactivity during mental stress tasks than did Japanese men or premenopausal women. Cardiovascular hyperreactivity could play a role in the higher risks of cardiovascular diseases in postmenopausal women.
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Hirokawa et al. (2014) conducted a cross-sectional in Healthy (n=979). Postmenopausal status vs. Men and premenopausal women was evaluated on Systolic blood pressure reactivity to mental stress (partial η = 0.015, p=< .050). Postmenopausal women demonstrated greater systolic blood pressure reactivity to mental stress (15.4 mm Hg) compared to men (11.7 mm Hg) and premenopausal women (12.4 mm Hg; p < 0.050).
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