Impairment of physical exercise capacity in healthy postmenopausal women

Mercuro, Giuseppe; Saiu, Francesca; Deidda, Martino; Mercuro, Silvia; Vitale, Cristiana; Rosano, Giuseppe M.C.

doi:10.1016/j.ahj.2005.06.027

« Previous Next »American Heart Journal
Volume 151, Issue 4 , Pages 923-927, April 2006

Impairment of physical exercise capacity in healthy postmenopausal women

Giuseppe Mercuro, MD
- Department of Cardiovascular and Neurological Sciences, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy
- Reprint requests: Prof Giuseppe Mercuro, Dipartimento di Scienze Cardiovascolari e Neurologiche, Policlinico Universitario, S.S 554, bivio Sestu, 09042, Monserrato, Sardinia, Italy.
Francesca Saiu, MD
- Department of Cardiovascular and Neurological Sciences, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy
Martino Deidda
- Department of Cardiovascular and Neurological Sciences, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy
Silvia Mercuro
- Department of Cardiovascular and Neurological Sciences, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy
Cristiana Vitale, MD
- Cardiovascular Research Unit—San Raffaele–H—Rome Italy
Giuseppe M.C. Rosano, MD, PhD
- Cardiovascular Research Unit—San Raffaele–H—Rome Italy

Received 14 April 2005; accepted 17 June 2005.

Background

Healthy postmenopausal women reveal a series of peripheral vascular abnormalities, whose possible consequences on exercise performance has not been yet elucidated.

Methods

We studied the response to strenuous exercise in 25 postmenopausal women (mean age 50 ± 3 years) without cardiovascular risk factors or disease through an integrative cardiopulmonary test.

Results

In comparison with 25 premenopausal subjects matched for age and biophysical characteristics, postmenopausal women showed a lower maximal workload (P < .01) and maximum Vo₂ (P < .01), an early anaerobic threshold (P < .05), and a lower ratio between increase of Vo₂ consumption and work rate (P < .01).

Conclusions

Our results suggest that menopause could represent an important concomitant cause in determining an impairment of exercise capacity. The set of cardiopulmonary abnormalities found in the present study seems to identify the peripheral circulation as the limiting system in postmenopausal women experiencing exercise intolerance. Finally, present findings are in favor of an early introduction of postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy.