New Study Identifies Estrogen’s Protective Effects On Women’s Health

It's long been common knowledge that estrogen has a big influence on women's health. Namely, premenopausal women are consistently less likely to have high blood pressure compared to men and postmenopausal women. But why?

With hypertension as one of the leading causes of heart disease, researchers wanted to dig into how exactly estrogen protects women's health, and particularly their heart health. The study was recently published in the journal Mathematical Biosciences—here's what they found.

Understanding how estrogen supports women's health

For this study, researchers used a mathematical model of women's kidneys and cardiovascular system in order to observe the effects of estrogen in the body. This model is award-winning, providing precise information on the mechanisms of estrogen.

As aforementioned, postmenopausal women don't have the same heart-protective benefits of estrogen as premenopausal women, and the model used in this study was able to, at least partially, explain why.

"What is known is that estrogen has a plethora of interactions with other hormone systems, as well as physiological processes known or hypothesized to impact the regulation of blood pressure," study author Anita Layton Ph.D. writes.

And based on the findings, it appears that estrogen encourages vasodilation (the widening and relaxing of blood vessels). "[Estrogen] affects how blood vessels respond, how the kidneys regulate fluids, and how different systems communicate with one another," Layton explains, adding, "What we found is that its impact on blood vessels is especially important for regulating blood pressure."

Another key finding was that angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB) are more effective than angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors in treating hypertensive women of any age, even when estrogen drops after menopause. This, of course, is important for the treatment of postmenopausal women with hypertension.

All in all, Layton says, estrogen is often thought of only in terms of reproductive health, "but it plays a much broader role in how the body functions."

The takeaway

Considering female-specific health issues have received significantly less attention and research than male health issues, any new information pertaining to women's health is a win in our book. And not only do these findings help explain why estrogen has heart health benefits for women, but the findings also show that certain treatments work better than others, which is great news for women with high blood pressure and for health providers alike.

"For too long, women's health, especially older women's health, has been overlooked by medicine," Layton says in closing. "Understanding how age and sex affect the body and, therefore, treatment, is an equity issue."