Influence of estrogen replacement therapy on cardiovascular responses to stress of healthy postmenopausal women

Two experiments were conducted to understand the influence of estrogen expo sure on cardiovascular responses to acute stress measured by impedance card iography. Study 1 compared stress responses of 29 postmenopausal women who used postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and 29 who did not us e HRT. Women who did not use HRT had higher systolic blood pressure and pul se pressure responses to the tasks relative to HRT users. Study 2 compared stress responses of 38 healthy postmenopausal women not initially on HRT wh o were randomly assigned to transdermal estradiol or placebo treatment for 6-8 weeks. HRT assignment did not influence substantially women's cardiovas cular responses to stress. Characteristics correlated with HRT use, not HRT itself, or differences in type, duration, and dosage may account for the d iscrepancy in results.