Background and objectives : It is known that both hypercholesterolemia and aging cause endothelial dysfunction but which has the greater effect is less well known. A useful, non-invasive method for the evaluation of endothelial function is flow-mediated dilation (FMD) of the brachial artery (BA) employing. This study was performed to evaluate the effect of serum cholesterol and age oendothelial function in women utilising the above method.
Subjects and Methods : 21 of the 37 women in this study (mean age 46+ 15range 24- 72), had hypercholesterolemia (>200 mg/dL) and 16 had normocholesterolemia (<200 mg/dL). None of the subjects suffered classic risk factors associated with atherosclerosis other than hypercholesterolemia. The inner diameter of the right BA was measured at the peak of ECG R wave, from a longitudinal section taken b an 8.0-MHz B-mode linear-array ultrasonic transducer. Scans were taken at rest, during reactive hyperaemia (endothelium-dependent dilation ; EDD), again at rest, and following sublingual nitroglycerin (endotheliumindependent dilation ; EID).
Results : From simple linear regression analyses, the serum cholesterol levels were found to be negatively related to the EDD of the BA at an age <50 years (r= - 0.63 years (r= - 0.54, p <0.05). Serum cholesterol levels were not significantly related to the IDOregardless sof age. In contrast, age was not related to EDD or EID in either normocholesterolemic orr hypercholesterolemic subjects.
Conclusion : These results suggest hypercholesterolemia has a greater effect than age in impairing the endothelial function in women.
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