Mercuro G et al. (2007) Effect of hormone therapy on exercise capacity in early postmenopausal women. Obstet Gynecol 110: 780–787

The menopause is known to adversely affect exercise tolerance and peak oxygen consumption, possibly owing to an ovarian hormone deficiency that causes a reduced blood supply to skeletal muscles. Mercuro and colleagues evaluated the exercise capacity of newly menopausal women compared with age-matched, premenopausal women; in addition, the effects of postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy (HRT) on exercise capacity were assessed.

This case–control study included 30 sedentary, postmenopausal women (mean age 50.6 ± 1.1 years, mean time since menopause 30 ± 4 months) with no cardiovascular risk factors (e.g. high cholesterol levels, diabetes or smoking) or malignancy, and 30 premenopausal women, matched for age and biophysical characteristics. The case patients underwent a full cardiovascular examination and an integrative cardiopulmonary exercise test at baseline and after 3 months of HRT; control women underwent the same tests at baseline and 3 months.

Several parameters were significantly reduced in postmenopausal women compared with controls at baseline, including flow-mediated vasodilation in the radial artery (P <0.001), maximal workload (P <0.01), peak oxygen consumption (P <0.001) and anaerobic threshold (P <0.001). After 3 months of HRT, significant improvements were observed in flow-mediated vasodilation, maximal workload, peak oxygen consumption and anaerobic threshold in postmenopausal women; furthermore, these values were comparable to those of the premenopausal controls after 3 months.

These findings confirm that the natural menopause reduces exercise tolerance and maximum oxygen uptake. In addition, the results show that 3 months' HRT might restore exercise capacity and endothelium-dependent vasodilation in postmenopausal women.