HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 285/5/H2188    most recent 00256.2003v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Web of Science (31) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Liu, C. C. Articles by Yang, C. C. H. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Liu, C. C. Articles by Yang, C. C. H.

Effects of estrogen on gender-related autonomic differences in humans

¹Shou-Feng Health Station, Hualien 974; ²Institute of Neuroscience and ³Department of Physiology, Tzu Chi University, Hualien 970; and ⁴Department of Neurology, Tzu Chi Buddhist General Hospital, Hualien 970, Taiwan

Submitted 20 March 2003 ; accepted in final form 18 July 2003

Our previous studies demonstrated that premenopausal women have dominant vagal and subordinate sympathetic activity compared with age-matched men. This study was designed to investigate the role of estrogen in gender-related autonomic differences. We evaluated the heart rate variability of four healthy groups: agedmatched postmenopausal women without hormone replacement therapy (PM), postmenopausal women on conjugated estrogen replacement therapy (PME), men, and non-age-matched premenopausal women (PreM). Frequency-domain analysis of short-term and stationary R-R intervals was performed to evaluate low-frequency power (LF; 0.04–0.15 Hz), high-frequency power (HF; 0.15–0.40 Hz), the ratio of LF to HF (LF/HF), and LF in normalized units (LF%). No gender-related autonomic differences existed between the PM and men groups, but they did exist between the PME and men group. Compared with the PreM group, the PM group had a lower HF and higher LF% and LF/HF. Compared with the PM group, the PME group had a higher HF but lower LF% and LF/HF. These results suggest that conjugated estrogen replacement therapy may facilitate vagal and attenuate sympathetic regulation of heart rate in postmenopausal women. In addition, estrogen may play an important role in gender-related autonomic differences.

menopause; estrogen replacement therapy

This article has been cited by other articles:

				R. P. Sloan, P. A. Shapiro, R. E. DeMeersman, E. Bagiella, E. N. Brondolo, P. S. McKinley, I. Slavov, Y. Fang, and M. M. Myers The Effect of Aerobic Training and Cardiac Autonomic Regulation in Young Adults Am J Public Health, May 1, 2009; 99(5): 921 - 928. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				V. M. Miller and S. P. Duckles Vascular Actions of Estrogens: Functional Implications Pharmacol. Rev., June 1, 2008; 60(2): 210 - 241. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				Y.J. Akashi, G. Barbaro, T. Sakurai, K. Nakazawa, and F. Miyake Cardiac autonomic imbalance in patients with reversible ventricular dysfunction takotsubo cardiomyopathy QJM, June 1, 2007; 100(6): 335 - 343. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. Lavi, O. Nevo, I. Thaler, R. Rosenfeld, L. Dayan, N. Hirshoren, L. Gepstein, and G. Jacob Effect of aging on the cardiovascular regulatory systems in healthy women Am J Physiol Regulatory Integrative Comp Physiol, February 1, 2007; 292(2): R788 - R793. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M.-W. Tsai, W.-C. Chie, T. B. Kuo, M.-F. Chen, J.-P. Liu, T. H.-H. Chen, and Y.-T. Wu Effects of Exercise Training on Heart Rate Variability After Coronary Angioplasty Physical Therapy, May 1, 2006; 86(5): 626 - 635. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]