assessment of oxidative stress markers related to atherosclerosis in pre-hypertensive women

background: lipid peroxidation is a free radical-generating process which occurs on every membranous structure of the cell. free radicals are known to be involved in a number of human pathologies including atherosclerosis. the purpose of this cross-sectional study was to examine the association between pre-hypertension status and oxidative stress markers [total antioxidant capacity (tac) and malonedialdehyde (mda) levels] in a random sample of cardiovascular disease-free women. methods: in this study, 160 women of 20-45 years of age were randomly selected. general information data were gathered from each sample using questionnaires and face-to-face interviews. blood pressure (bp) was measured for each subject. body weight, height, and waist and hip circumferences were measured and body mass index (bmi) and waist-to-hip ratio (whr) were calculated for each subject. venous blood samples were drawn from the subjects, and plasma was separated . in this study, the oxidative stress status was assessed by measuring the concentrations of plasma mda and tac levels. results: our results show that both systolic and diastolic blood pressures were inversely correlated with tac ( p<0.01) and positively correlated with mda levels (p<0.01). particularly, compared to the normotensive subjects, the pre-hypertensives had 19% lower tac (p<0.05) and 22% higher mda levels (p<0.01), after correcting for multiple comparisons and adjusting for age, body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio, and other potential confounders. conclusion: our findings revealed an association between pre-hypertension and oxidative stress markers linked to atherosclerosis process. thus, the identification of the underlying molecular mechanisms in pre-hypertension, which seem to include oxidative stress, may serve as an important lead for developing potentially new treatment modalities in this group of patients at risk for future cardiovascular complications.