Cerebral and peripheral vascular differences between pre- and postmenopausal women

Objective:
Menopause is associated with lower peripheral vascular function; however, cerebrovascular responses to this time-period are unclear. We aimed to describe peripheral vascular and cerebrovascular differences between pre- and postmenopausal women.
Methods:
Fifty pre- and postmenopausal women (N = 100) underwent assessments of cerebral blood flow; cerebrovascular reactivity and autoregulation; carotid artery reactivity; brachial and femoral artery flow-mediated dilation; and carotid, brachial, and femoral artery intima-media thickness. Comparisons were made between pre- and postmenopausal women followed by a secondary analysis (N = 20) between late premenopausal women and those within 5 years of menopause using a general linear model.
Results:
Cerebral blood flow (−11 [−17, −4 cm/s]; P = 0.03) and carotid reactivity (−2.3 [−4.3, −0.3%] P = 0.03) were lower postmenopause compared to premenopause, whereas cerebrovascular reactivity and autoregulation did not differ (P > 0.05). Postmenopausal women had a larger carotid (0.16 [0.13, 0.20 mm] P 

Source: Menopause - January 31, 2020 Category: OBGYN Tags: Original Studies Source Type: research