Anxiety as a risk factor for menopausal hot flashes: Evidence from the Penn Ovarian Aging cohort

The point of Penn Ovarian Aging cohort study was to distinguish temporal relationship of anxiety dimensions with menopausal hot flashes in women progressing through the menopausal transition. This study demonstrated a strong predictive relationship of somatic anxiety with the risk of menopausal hot flashes. The temporal affiliations recommend that somatic anxiety is not simply a redundant measure of hot flashes but predicts the risk of menopausal hot flashes and might be a potential target in clinical management of perimenopausal women.

Results

• Amid the 14–year interval, 72% of the sample were reported moderate/severe hot flashes in this study.
• In this study, there was no significant collaboration found between anxiety dimensions and menopausal stages.
• At the point when adjusted for menopausal stage, the magnitude of relationship between somatic anxiety and hot flashes, in any case, significantly expanded (odds ratio [OR], 3.03; 95% CI, 2.12–4.32; P < 0.001), though the relationship between affective anxiety and hot flashes expanded to a lesser extent (OR, 1.27; 95% CI, 1.03–1.57; P = 0.024).
• Women with high levels of somatic anxiety (top third of the sample) had the greatest risk of hot flashes (P < 0.001).
• At the point when the anxiety dimensions were considered in combination, the additive impact of high affective anxiety symptoms was negligible, with no critical contrast between the group with high affective/low somatic symptoms and the low symptom group in incident hot flashes at each menopausal stage (P = 0.54).
• In multivariable analysis, somatic anxiety expanded the risk of hot flashes more than three times (OR, 3.13; 95% CI, 2.16–4.53; P < 0.001), however affective anxiety was not altogether connected with hot flashes after adjustment for other study variables (OR, 1.19; 95% CI, 0.96–1.48; P = 0.117).
• Time–lagged somatic anxiety scores significantly predicted hot flashes, with a 71% increase in risk (OR, 1.71; 95% CI, 1.21–2.41; P = 0.002).
• Time–lagged affective anxiety scores did not predict hot flashes (OR, 1.06; 95% CI, 0.87–1.31; P = 0.58).