Regular paperCardiovascular effects of caffeine in men and women☆
Section snippets
Methods
Premenopausal women (n = 42) were compared with age-matched men (n = 35). All were nonobese, in good health by physical examination, normotensive (BPs <135/85 mm Hg), regularly consumed caffeine (50 to 700 mg/day), smoked <6 cigarettes/day, and used no medications with cardiovascular or metabolic effects. Women were not taking oral contraceptives and not pregnant according to pregnancy test (One Step, Inverness Medical Ltd., Beachwood Park, Scotland). All signed a consent form approved by the
Results
Table 1presents anthropometric and screening data. Men weighed more and had a higher Quetelet index than women (F [1,75] = 41.35 and 5.86, respectively; p <0.02). Table 2provides cardiovascular data before drug administration. Men had higher systolic BP at rest than women (F [1,73] = 29.20, p <0.0001).
The primary gender × drug × periods multivariate ANOVAs showed that the caffeine group had higher systolic and diastolic BPs than the placebo group (main effects of drug, F [11,59] = 2.30 and 3.28
Discussion
In the present study, women and men who were habitual users of caffeine had similar increases in BP after taking caffeine (equivalent to 2 to 3 cups of coffee), as reported by another study.21 However, the mechanisms facilitating the BP increase in women were different from those in men. Men responded to caffeine with increases in peripheral resistance and no change in cardiac output, as seen in a previous study.9 In contrast, women responded with increases in cardiac output and little or no
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This study was supported by the Medical Research Service of the Department of Veterans Affairs and by grants HL 32050, HL 32050-S2, and HL 07640 from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Bethesda, Maryland.