Hematocrit and mean arterial blood pressure in pre- and postmenopause women

Abstract

Beatriz Y Salazar Vázquez1,2, Miguel A Salazar Vázquez3,4, Marcos Intaglietta2, Ulf de Faire5, Bengt Fagrell6, Pedro Cabrales21Facultad de Medicina, 3Department of Physical Chemistry, Universidad Juárez del estado de Durango, Durango, México; 2Department of Bioengineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA; 4Department of Pediatrics, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Durango, México; 5Division of Cardiovascular Epidemiology, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Department of Cardiology, Karolinska Institutet, Solna, Stockholm, Sweden; 6Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institutet at Karolinska Hospital, Solna, Stockholm, SwedenAbstract: The relationship between mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) and hematocrit (Hct) was studied in pre- and postmenopause women in the city of Durango, Mexico. Premenopause women show a negative trend between parameters that is not statistically significant. MAP and Hct are directly related in postmenopause women (p < 0.01). It is proposed that that this MAP/Hct relationship is in part due to differences in endothelial function where menopause decreases the capacity of the endothelium to respond to increased blood viscosity and shears stress, leading to the increased production of vasodilator mediators to compensate for changes in blood viscosity due to changes in Hct. Comparison with a large group of postmenopause women in the city of Stockholm showed identical trends.Keywords: menopause, endothelial dysfunction, blood viscosity, blood pressure, hematocrit