Internal Medicine Department, North Hospital, Marseille, France.
J Hypertens. 2011 Jun;29(6):1023-33. doi: 10.1097/HJH.0b013e328344da5e.
Elevated large artery stiffness and pulse pressure have emerged as important risk factors for cardiovascular disease. The genders differ in large artery biomechanical properties throughout the lifespan with females displaying higher stiffness than males during the prepubertal years and a dramatic increase after menopause. Males on the other hand experience an increase in arterial stiffness postpuberty and a linear increase thereafter, suggesting that females have intrinsically stiffer large arteries than males, but that such effects are mitigated by sex steroids during the reproductive years. This review discusses anthropometric and sex steroid influences on gender differences in large artery stiffness and pressure dynamics from childhood to senescence. In particular, the sex-specific effects of estrogen, progesterone and testosterone on vascular structure and function and how these influence arterial stiffness are explored. These factors may contribute in part to the observed gender differences in the pathophysiology and clinical manifestations of cardiovascular disease.
大动脉僵硬度和脉压升高已成为心血管疾病的重要危险因素。在整个生命周期中，男女的大动脉生物力学特性存在差异，女性在青春期前的僵硬度高于男性，绝经后则急剧增加。另一方面，男性在青春期后动脉僵硬度增加，并呈线性增加，这表明女性的大动脉僵硬度天生比男性高，但在生殖期，性激素会减轻这种影响。本综述讨论了从儿童期到老年期，人体测量学和性激素对大动脉僵硬度和压力动力学性别差异的影响。特别是，探讨了雌激素、孕激素和睾酮对血管结构和功能的特定性别影响，以及这些影响如何影响动脉僵硬度。这些因素可能部分导致了心血管疾病病理生理学和临床表现中观察到的性别差异。
