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Researchers say migraines and menopausal symptoms may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease.Fiordaliso/Getty Images
  • Hot flashes and night sweats, also known as vasomotor symptoms, affect nearly seven out of 10 middle-aged women, and severe symptoms can negatively impact daily life.
  • New research suggests that not only Black adults but also those with lower levels of education, smokers, and those with a history of migraine or depression in early adulthood may be at higher risk for vasomotor symptoms later in life. It suggests that there is.
  • Researchers say identifying these factors in early adulthood, between ages 18 and 30, may reduce the risk of vasomotor symptoms later in life.
  • Another study conducted by the same research group reported that women with a combined history of migraine and persistent vasomotor symptoms after age 40 had a twice as high risk of cardiovascular events.

Vasomotor symptomsSymptoms, including hot flashes and night sweats, are more common in middle-aged women.

Although studies have characterized risk factors for vasomotor symptoms in women in this age group, it is not yet clear whether factors that appear in early adulthood influence the risk of vasomotor symptoms.

Now, a new study has been published in a journal. menopause reported that socioeconomic factors and a history of depression or migraine in early adulthood may increase the risk of vasomotor symptoms later in life.

Additionally, other studies have been published. menopause A study by the same research group has shown that the co-presence of vasomotor symptoms and migraine in midlife may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease later in life. The researchers reported that this association persisted even after accounting for other cardiovascular risk factors.

Although migraine and vasomotor symptoms are individually associated with cardiovascular risk, this new study is one of the first to examine their combined effects on cardiovascular disease.

“It’s important to note that this is a very important finding,” said Dr. Chen-Han Chen, an interventional cardiologist and medical director of the Structural Heart Program at Memorial Care Saddleback Medical Center in California, who was not involved in the study. Today’s medical news that:

“[This population study] that the combination of migraine and vasomotor symptoms may provide an early indication of a population that may benefit from more intensive risk factor intervention and modification to reduce future risk. Suggests. Further research could investigate whether more aggressive cardiovascular risk factor management for this specific population actually leads to better health outcomes. ”

Hot flashes and night sweats, also known as vasomotor symptoms, are common in middle-aged women and can affect nearly everyone. 70% of this age group. These symptoms are usually observed during menopause.

Notably, these vasomotor symptoms tend to be severe or very frequent in approximately one-third of affected women, negatively impacting quality of life. Despite the widespread prevalence of vasomotor symptoms, risk factors for vasomotor symptoms are not well understood.

Although vasomotor symptoms are prominent in the period leading up to and during menopause, factors that influence predisposition to vasomotor symptoms may occur early in life. In one of two studies published in menopauseresearchers looked at risk factors for vasomotor symptoms that may be present in early adulthood.

In addition to impacting quality of life, studies have shown that vasomotor symptoms are associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Researchers have also observed an association between migraine and vasomotor symptoms.

Additionally, migraines are also associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. However, it is unclear whether the combination of migraine and vasomotor symptoms increases the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Additionally, it is unclear whether vasomotor symptoms can increase cardiovascular risk, taking into account known risk factors such as blood pressure, blood sugar, lipid levels, and smoking. Therefore, other studies have investigated the effects of vasomotor symptoms and migraine on cardiovascular risk.

Both studies involved more than 1,900 women enrolled in Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (Cardia) study. This longitudinal study aimed to assess factors in young adulthood that may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease later in life.

Participants in the CARDIA study were between 18 and 30 years of age at enrollment. Participants were evaluated for cardiovascular risk factors at enrollment and every 5 years thereafter. The last data collection took place 35 years after enrollment, and the participants were approximately 60 years old.

The study also collected data on vasomotor symptoms starting at a visit 15 years after enrollment, when participants were approximately 40 years old. Thereafter, data on vasomotor symptoms were collected every 5 years on him.

Researchers determined the presence and severity of vasomotor symptoms based on participants’ experience of hot flashes and night sweats during the three months prior to each assessment. Depending on the severity of these symptoms over time, the researchers divided participants into groups with minimal, increasing, or persistent vasomotor symptoms.

A notable feature of these two studies, unlike previous studies, is that they included women undergoing gynecological procedures and women receiving hormone therapy.

In one study, researchers examined the relationship between vasomotor symptoms and migraine history (individually and in combination) and the occurrence of cardiovascular events 15 years after enrollment.

Cardiovascular events included in this study consisted of non-fatal and fatal cardiac events, including heart attack, heart failure, and stroke. To account for other cardiovascular risk factors, the researchers measured blood pressure, blood cholesterol and blood sugar levels, body mass index, and smoking amount at hospital visits 15 years after enrollment.

This analysis was conducted considering factors such as age, race, gynecological surgery, oral contraceptive use, and reproductive factors such as sex hormone therapy.

Only women with a history of both migraine and persistent vasomotor symptoms had a two-fold increased risk of cardiovascular events compared to other participants without a history of both. Unlike previous studies, persistent vasomotor symptoms or a history of migraine did not independently increase the likelihood of experiencing a cardiovascular event.

Further analysis revealed that the association between a combined history of persistent vasomotor symptoms and migraine and the risk of cardiovascular events was attenuated when cardiovascular risk factors such as smoking, blood sugar, and cholesterol levels were included. Ta. In other words, a history of both persistent vasomotor symptoms and other cardiovascular risk factors may increase the risk of cardiovascular events.

Therefore, lifestyle changes such as smoking cessation may reduce the overall risk of vasomotor symptoms and migraine-related cardiac events.

Given the impact that vasomotor symptoms have on women’s quality of life, researchers in a second study examined factors that predispose women to persistent vasomotor symptoms. Specifically, we investigated factors that predispose women to persistent vasomotor symptoms compared to less frequent symptoms.

Researchers found that not only Black adults but also those who smoked, had less than a high school education, had migraine or depression symptoms at baseline, or had a hysterectomy 15 years after enrollment. , found an increased risk of persistent vasomotor symptoms. Similarly, black adults and those with lower BMI at baseline were associated with increased vasomotor symptoms with age.

The researchers then conducted further analysis by categorizing women based on whether they experienced persistent bothersome vasomotor symptoms or non-persistent vasomotor symptoms. Women who experienced bothersome symptoms shared similar risk factors as women who experienced persistent symptoms.

In addition to these common risk factors, researchers have found a link between bothersome symptoms and thyroid disease. Although further research is needed, these results suggest that screening for and management of thyroid disease could potentially reduce the risk of vasomotor symptoms later in life.

Strengths of the two studies include their prospective design with long-term participant follow-up. Additionally, both studies take into account several variables that may influence the analysis, such as the use of hormone therapy and gynecological surgery.

However, both studies were correlational and did not establish causation. The method used to classify participants into groups based on the severity of vasomotor symptoms also differed from methods used in other studies. Therefore, using a different classification system for vasomotor symptoms may have yielded different results.

Finally, two studies used self-reports of migraine and vasomotor symptoms, making these data susceptible to bias.

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