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Should women have lower thresholds for hypertension diagnosis and treatment?

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 37, pages 753–754 (2023)Cite this article

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In a recent paper, Meinert et al. [1] reviewed international and national clinical hypertension guidelines regarding sex and gender-related differences. These guidelines state that hypertension prevalence is higher in men than in women, and that evidence does not support different blood pressure thresholds and targets for treatment between men and women [1].

However, the reader should be aware that major differences between men and women are underrepresented in clinical guidelines [2]. Aside the association of adverse pregnancy outcomes with cardiometabolic risk and cardiovascular disease, of which the limited representation in guidelines was well-recognized in the review by Meinert et al. [1], several other relevant sex or gender-specific differences remain unaddressed.

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Fig. 1: Perturbations of resistance arterioles from premenopausal normotensive and hypertensive women with uterine fibroids.

References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CK Research Foundation, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

    Lizzy M. Brewster

  2. Amsterdam Institute of Global Health Development, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

    Lizzy M. Brewster

  3. University of Calabria, Department of Biology, Ecology and Earth Sciences, Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis, Cosenza, Italy

    Ida D. Perrotta

  4. Amsterdam UMC location University of Amsterdam, Department of Internal Medicine, Meibergdreef 9, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

    Gert A. van Montfrans

Authors
  1. Lizzy M. Brewster
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  2. Ida D. Perrotta
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  3. Gert A. van Montfrans
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Contributions

Conceptualization, LMB, GvM; Methodology, LMB, GvM; Validation, LMB, GvM, IDP; Formal analysis LMB, GvM, IDP; Data curation, LMB, GvM; Writing, Original draft preparation LMB, IDP and GvM; Visualization, LMB, IDP; Review & Editing; LMB, GvM, IDP; Guarantor of the work, LMB.

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Correspondence to Lizzy M. Brewster.

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All experimental research cited in this paper had been performed with the approval of an appropriate ethics committee in compliance with the Helsinki Declaration.

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Brewster, L.M., Perrotta, I.D. & van Montfrans, G.A. Should women have lower thresholds for hypertension diagnosis and treatment?. J Hum Hypertens 37, 753–754 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41371-023-00838-6

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