Dr. Lawrence Resnick, professor of medicine and investigator in the Hypertension Center.
Recently published research from Dr. Lawrence Resnick, professor of medicine (Hypertension Center), and collaborators at other institutions provides new evidence that the sex steroid hormone progesterone is also a vasoactive hormone that directly affects blood vessels. This finding sheds light on both the drop in blood pressure that usually accompanies pregnancy (when progesterone levels are high) and the rise in blood pressure that often occurs in women after menopause (when the production of progesterone falls off). It may also focus and sharpen the debate on the value of hormone-replacement therapy for long-term cardiovascular protection. The study is published in the January issue of Hypertension.