Hot flashes linked to high blood pressure
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - While past research has shown a link between menopause and high blood pressure, a new study suggests there is a relationship between hot flashes and high blood pressure, independent of menopausal status.
In the study, reported in the journal Menopause, ambulatory blood pressure monitors worn for 24 hours recorded awake and sleep blood pressure of 154 women, ranging in age from 18 to 65 years (with an average age of 46), no previous cardiovascular disease and either mildly elevated or normal blood pressure.
One third of the women reported having hot flashes within the past 2 weeks, note Dr. Linda Gerber of Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, and colleagues.
The average values for systolic blood pressure (the top number of the blood pressure reading), while awake and asleep were significantly higher in the women who had experienced hot flashes compared with women who did not.
In women with hot flashes, average systolic awake and sleep blood pressure was 141 and 129 mm Hg, respectively - this compared with 132 and 119 mm Hg, respectively, for women not reporting hot flashes.
Hot flashes continued to predict higher systolic awake and sleep systolic blood pressure after controlling for race, ethnicity, body mass index and "even after adjusting for whether they were premenopausal, menopausal, or postmenopausal," Gerber said in a statement.
Studies are needed, the investigators say, to determine if hot flashes cause high blood pressure or if they are related to one or more shared factors, such as elevations in the sympathetic nerve system.
If there is a causal relationship, then additional research to better understand the underlying this relationship may help identify treatment that can reduce the affect of hot flashes on blood pressure.
SOURCE: Menopause, March/April 2007.
