High blood pressure in women

There is a sexual dimorphism in blood pressure of humans and experimental animals: males tend to have higher blood pressure than females with functional ovaries, while ovariectomy or menopause tends to abolish the sexual dimorphism and cause females to develop a "male" pattern of blood pressure. Hypertensive male laboratory animals tend to have NaCl-sensitive blood pressure, while females are NaCl resistant unless their ovaries are removed, in which case NaCl sensitivity appears. The hormonal basis of NaCl sensitivity of blood pressure and of the sexual dimorphism of hypertension remains to be defined. Synthetic estrogens and progestins, as found in oral contraceptives, tend to elevate blood pressure, while naturally occurring estrogens lower it, or have no effect. Hypertension increases cardiovascular risk in women, as well as men, although the benefits of antihypertensive treatment have been more difficult to demonstrate in women. In the population of the United States, women are more aware of their hypertension, more likely to be treated medically, and more likely to have their blood pressure controlled.