HORMONE REPLACEMENT THERAPY AND BLOOD-PRESSURE IN HYPERTENSIVE WOMEN

There remains anxiety about the use of hormone replacement therapy (HR T) in postmenopausal women with hypertension. We therefore conducted a prospective open study of sequential changes in BP in 75 women referr ed to our hypertension clinic who required HRT for amelioration of men opausal symptoms. There were no significant differences in mean systol ic or diastolic BPs following the introduction of HRT over a median fo llow-up time of 14 months (interquartile range 8-32 months), despite a significant rise in mean body weight for individual patients which wa s statistically significant at three, nine and 12 months following the introduction of HRT. No differences in BP were seen in relation to ty pe of menopause, ethnic origin, history of previous pregnancy-induced hypertension or the type of HRT preparation used. Our data suggest tha t HRT is safe in hypertensive women who should not therefore be denied this therapy if they have menopausal symptoms, although careful super vision is necessary.