Evidence of decreased fibrinolytic activity in hypertensive premenopausal women

Abstract

In 29 lean, premenopausal, never-treated hypertensive women (142±2/93 ±1 mmHg, mean±SEM) plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI-1) was elevated (11.0±1.5 U/ml vs 6.3±1.0 U/ml, p < 0.05) compared to healthy, normotensive women (113±2/71 ±2 mmHg). Euglobulin clot lysis time tended to be longer in the hypertensive than in the normotensive women (p=0.06), PAI-1 was positively correlated to triglycerides (r=0.60, p < 0.001), haematocrit (r=0.45, p < 0.05), insulin (r=0.38, p < 0.05) and body mass index (r=0.38, p < 0.05), and inversely correlated to HDL cholesterol (r=-0.43, p < 0.05) in the hypertensive women. Fibrinogen was not significantly different in the hypertensive and normotensive women, while the hypertensive smokers had higher fibrinogen than the hypertensive non-smokers (3.01±0.17 g/1 vs 2.54±0.10 g/1, p < 0.05). All participants were investigated in the same phase of the menstrual cycle. Despite that, oestradiol was significantly lower in the hypertensive than in the normotensive women (0.57±0.06 vs 0.81±0.09 nmol l^-1, p < 0.05), while progesterone was similar in the two groups. These results suggest that premenopausal, never-treated hypertensive women are characterized by low oestradiol levels as well as decreased fibrinolytic activity. PAI-1 seems to be associated with other risk factors for cardiovascular disease in hypertensive women.

Key Words:

• Fibrinogen
• haematocrit
• insulin
• plasminogen activator inhibitor
• smoking
• triglycerides