Hot flashes in menopause linked to gut barrier permeability

Levels of the fatty acid binding protein 2 (FABP2) appear to be correlated with hot flushes in post-menopausal women, suggesting a role of intestinal barrier permeability in symptomatology, a recent study has found.

Researchers conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 289 women (aged 40–65 years) who were divided into four groups according to the severity of their hot flash symptoms: HF0, who had never had hot flashes; HFm, for mild hot flashes; HFM, for moderate hot flashes; and HFS, including those with severe hot flashes. FABP2 was quantified using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Higher levels of circulating FABP2 were correlated significantly with more intense hot flashes (p_trend=0.001). This was confirmed by Kruskal-Wallis testing, which showed that FABP2 levels were significantly different across the four symptom groups.

In particular, Dunn’s multiple comparison analysis found that women in the HFS group had significantly higher FABP2 levels than HF0 comparators (p<0.01). In contrast, HF0, HFm, and HFM groups showed comparable levels of FABP2.

Multivariate linear regression analysis further validated the link between FABP2 plasma concentrations and hot flash severity. The biomarker was 22.36 percent higher in the HFS vs HF0 groups (p=0.01) and was 3.16 percent and 1.60 percent higher as compared with the HFM and HFm groups, respectively. The latter two interactions were not statistically significant.

“Further longitudinal studies are required to clarify the causal relationships between dybiosis, gut permeability, and related inflammation and hot flashes in menopausal women,” the researchers said.