What are the effects of hormone-independent approaches to BP regulation?
Hormone-independent approaches to BP regulation may be more relevant to older, postmenopausal women and may provide important information that will inform future clinical trials of different BP reduction strategies. Research has demonstrated hormone-independent sex differences in the control of BP, with studies showing that men have higher systolic and diastolic BP than women. These differences are not entirely explained by differences in body size, age, or lifestyle. Nonpharmacological recommendations for BP management, such as reducing salt intake, have been found to have significant and important decreases in BP in both hypertensive and normotensive individuals, irrespective of sex and ethnic group. However, side effects of antihypertensive therapy tend to be encountered with a higher degree of frequency in women than men. 