Risk factors for high blood pressure in women attending menopause clinics in Italy.

NOTA IMPORTANTE: Autore dello studio è il “Progetto Menopausa Italia Study Group”. Umberto Omodei è Coordinatore Nazionale, membro dello Steering Committee e partecipante al Progetto. La pubblicazione riporta come co-autori l’elenco dei partecipanti suddivisi per incarico specifico. La pubblicazione non viene quindi individuata automaticamente inserendo il nome dell’autore nei motori di ricerca in rete. Il Progetto Menopausa Italia, del quale Umberto Omodei è co-fondatore, è un grande studio epidemiologico che aveva come obiettivo la raccolta di informazioni sulla menopausa e le condizioni cliniche correlate, basato su un network nazionale connesso in rete di 268 Centri per la Menopausa, con circa 1.500 operatori sanitari coinvolti. Il Progetto si è svolto dal 1997 al 2004 ed ha reclutato un campione di circa 130.000 pazienti seguite per oltre 5 anni. Objective: We analysed risk factors for high blood pressure (BP) among women around menopause. Methods: Eligible women were consecutively attending first-level outpatient menopause clinics in Italy for general counseling or treatment of menopausal symptoms. During the visit BP was measured three times. The mean of second and third of the three diastolic BP values for women was >90 mm of mercury and/or reporting any current pharmacological treatment for high BP were considered hypertensive. Out of 45,204 women who entered the study with information on blood pressure, 12,150 had high BP. Results: The odds ratios (OR) of high BP increased with age: in comparison with women aged <50 years, the multivariate OR were 1.44 (95% confidence interval (CI), 1.34–1.55), 1.61 (95% CI, 1.50–1.74) and 1.91 (95% CI, 1.77–2.06) in women aged 51–53, 54–57 and ≥58, respectively. Women with high BP were less educated than those without (OR education >12 versus <7 years, 0.79, 95% CI, 0.74–0.84). In comparison with women with a body mass index (BMI) <24, the multivariate ORs were 1.48 (95% CI, 1.39–1.57) and 2.56 (95% CI, 2.41–2.71) for women with BMI 24–26 and >26. In comparison with women reporting no regular physical activity, the multivariate OR of high BP was 0.93 (95% CI, 0.87–0.99) for women reporting regular activity. In comparison with peri-menopausal women, post-menopausal women were at increased risk (OR 1.14, 95% CI, 1.03–1.24) and the risk tended to increase with age at menopause. Current use of hormonal replacement therapy (HRT) was associated with a lower risk of high BP (OR 0.88, 95% CI, 0.84–0.94). Conclusions: Thislargecross-sectionalstudysuggeststhat,aftertakingintoaccounttheeffectofage,post-menopausalwomen are at greater risk of high BP, but current HRT use slightly lowers the risk. Other determinants of high BP were low level of education, overweight, and low level of physical activity.