Post-menopausal women are more susceptible to high blood pressure, high blood lipids and high blood sugar — commonly known as the “three highs” — than men in the same age group, according to a study released yesterday by the Bureau of Health Promotion.
The long-term study, commissioned by the bureau in 2007, found that women under 50 are less susceptible than men in that age group to hypertension, high levels of lipids and high blood sugar.
However, the trend is reversed among older people.
The incidence of hypertension among women in the 40-to-49 age group is 41 percent, compared with 46 percent among men, according to the study.
However, in the 60-to-69 age bracket, the incidence among women jumps to 80 percent compared with 64 percent among men, the study found.
For high blood lipids, the rate is about the same among women and men in the 40-to-49 age group, but beyond that age it starts rising steeply among women and reaches 60 percent by age 60-to-69, according to the study.
By comparison, the incidence among men in the higher age bracket is 40 percent.
The study also found that by the age of 50, women become more likely than men to develop high blood sugar.
Moreover, the study found post-menopausal women are more susceptible than men to abdominal obesity.
In the 20 to 49 age group, men tend to have more abdominal body fat, but the trend is reversed among people over the age of 50, according to the study.
Warning that high blood pressure, high lipids, high blood sugar and abdominal obesity are all risk factors for strokes, kidney disease and heart disease, bureau officials urged post-menopausal women to check themselves for these conditions regularly.
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