Large Brachial Artery Diameter and Metabolic Syndrome in postmenopausal women

Objective: To investigate on Brachial Artery Diameter enlargement in postmenopausal women with Metabolic Syndrome. Methods: 294 women were admitted and classified in two groups according to the presence of Metabolic Syndrome. Serum glucose, insulin, lipid profile, carotid arteries and Brachial Artery Diameter were measured. Results: Subjects with Metabolic Syndrome had the following different parameters in comparison to subjects without Metabolic Syndrome: Brachial Artery Diameter, Common Carotid Artery Diameter, IMT, and age. In a multivariate regression analysis Brachial Artery Diameter resulted correlated to age and presence of Metabolic Syndrome, among the Metabolic Syndrome components HDL was the only one to be associated to artery diameter. Furthermore, artery diameters increased with the increasing number of Metabolic Syndrome components. Conclusion: Brachial Artery Diameter enlargement was found in postmenopausal women with Metabolic Syndrome. Arterial enlargement seems to be a systemic process occurring in response to some factors involved in atherosclerosis and not a focal change.