Influence of gender and menopausal status on peripheral and choroidal circulation

Purpose: To evaluate the influence of menopausal status and age on peripheral and ocular circulation assessed by means of continuous laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF). Methods: Fifty-three healthy participants were recruited randomly. Twenty-six men and 27 women were divided into two age groups. Choroidal blood flow was measured by LDF and peripheral circulation was measured at the fingertips (digit IV) using the Perimed PeriFlux (Jarfalla, Sweden) laser Doppler System 5000. Independent t-test and two-way analysis of variance (anova) were performed. Results: Group distribution was: male/female = 14/16 for the younger group and 12/11 for the older group. Average age across groups was 31.3 +/- 6.8/28.4 +/- 7.0 years and 66.3 +/- 8.3/61.5 +/- 3.6 years, respectively. Finger and choroidal LDF flow values were significantly different between the two female age groups (p < 0.001 and p = 0.03, respectively). In men this was not the case (p = 0.85 and p = 0.56, respectively). anova interaction p-value for the factors 'age group' and 'gender' for finger LDF flow was p = 0.012, and for choroidal LDF flow p = 0.049, demonstrating significant gender differences with ageing. Conclusion: Menopausal status in women has significant influence on both choroidal and peripheral blood flow; the opposite behaviour occurs with ageing.