Effects of hormone replacement therapy or raloxifene on ambulatory blood pressure and arterial stiffness in treated hypertensive postmenopausal women.

The administration of oral raloxifene in 30 postmenopausal hypertensive women was evaluated to demonstrate its effect on arterial stiffness. Casual and ambulatory blood pressure (BP) and pulse-wave velocity (PWV) data were obtained before and after patients received raloxifene, estrogen-progestin replacement therapy, or placebo in a randomized crossover study. It was shown that the 2 therapies decreased BP and carotid-femoral PWV, and the effect of raloxifene on vascular compliance was independent of the effects on BP.