Central sympatholytic therapy has anti-inflammatory properties in hypertensive postmenopausal women.

Objective: Postmenopausal phase expresses many unfavourable physiological changes that lead to increased risk for cardiovascular disease. We compared the effect of two sympatholytic antihypertensive drug treatments, the centrally acting imidazoline receptor-1 agonist moxonidine and peripherally acting beta-blocking agent atenolol on sensitive inflammatory markers in overweight postmenopausal women with diastolic hypertension.

Methods: This was a multicentre, multinational double-blinded, prospective study comparing moxonidine (0.