Vasomotor symptoms a female-specific CVD risk factor

Frequent and persistent vasomotor symptoms (VMS) confer about a 50–77-percent increased risk of developing subsequent cardiovascular disease (CVD), a study has found.

The study followed 3,083 women aged 42–52 years at baseline for 22 years. All participants attended up to 16 in‐person clinic visits for assessments, including questionnaires on VMS frequency (0, 1–5, or ≥6 days/2 weeks), physical measures, phlebotomy, and reported CVD events (myocardial infarction, stroke, heart failure, and revascularization).

Over a median follow-up of 19 years, 204 cases of nonfatal CVD events occurred and 27 women had a fatal CVD event. Overall, the women attended an average of 13 of the 16 study visits, reporting frequent VMS at an average of 20 percent of these visits. A total of 743 (24 percent) women reported frequent VMS at >33 percent of visits.

Compared with those who did not experience VMS, women with frequent VMS were more likely to be older, perimenopausal (vs premenopausal), black, less educated, more financially strained, and have a poorer CVD risk factor profile.

Multivariable Cox proportional hazards models revealed that frequent baseline VMS was associated with an elevated risk of subsequent CVD events (relative to no VMS; ≥6 days: hazard ratio [HR], 1.51, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.05–2.17; p=0.03; 1–5 days: HR, 1.02, 95 percent CI, 0.75–1.39; p=0.89).

Frequent VMS that persisted over time also contributed to an increased CVD event risk (>33 percent vs ≤33 percent of visits: HR, 1.77, 95 percent CI, 1.33–2.35; p<0.0001).

The findings suggest that VMS may represent a novel, female‐specific CVD risk factor, given that VMS pinpoints women at risk of future CVD events beyond those identified on the basis of traditional CVD risk factors.