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For some people, the heat comes out of nowhere and is so intense that it burns their face and makes sweat break out from the pores of their body. Welcome to hot flashes and other symptoms of approaching menopause. Experts say about 75% of women will share this experience if they live long enough.
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Severe hot flashes may indicate an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease and heart disease later in life, a new study has found.
Even if menopause is years or even decades away, now is the time to pay attention. Because, according to emerging science, the experience of menopause can negatively impact your future health.
An unpublished study presented Wednesday at the Menopause Society Annual Meeting in Philadelphia found that severe hot flashes are associated with increases in C-reactive protein, a marker for the future. Heart diseaseand to blood biomarkers that may predict subsequent diagnosis. Alzheimer’s disease.
“This is the first time science has shown that hot flashes are associated with blood biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease,” says Stephanie Fabion, president and medical director of the Mayo Clinic Women’s Health Specialty Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida. said the doctor. Menopause Society.
“This is further evidence that hot flashes and night sweats may not be as benign as previously thought,” said Fabion, who was not involved in the study.
Approximately 250 women between the ages of 45 and 67 experiencing symptoms of menopause wore a device for three nights to objectively measure their sleep quality. The woman was also fitted with a sweat monitor to record her hot flashes during the night. The researchers then took blood samples from study participants and tested them for a specific protein biomarker of Alzheimer’s disease called beta-amyloid 42/40.
“Beta-amyloid 42/40 is thought to be a marker of amyloid plaques in the brain. “It is a component of the pathophysiology of Alzheimer’s disease dementia,” said study lead author Dr. Rebecca Thurston.
“We found that night sweats are associated with harmful beta-amyloid.” 42/40 profile indicates that hot flashes experienced during sleep may be a marker for women at risk for Alzheimer’s disease,” says the University of Pittsburgh Pitt Public School of Women’s Biobehavioral Research. said Thurston, a professor of psychiatry, epidemiology and psychology who directs the Institute for Health Research. health.
Thurston said the biomarker does not identify whether a person has clinical Alzheimer’s disease, only the likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s disease in the future.
“In other words, nighttime hot flashes are not the cause of this risk. They are just markers for people at increased risk,” Fabion said. “Similarly, we don’t know whether treating night sweats reduces risk. We don’t know that.”
The study also looked at two biomarkers for the protein tau, another hallmark sign of Alzheimer’s disease, and found no association, Thurston said. “These biomarkers are still being rapidly developed and are currently being validated, but there is still much we need to learn.”
Thanks to objective sleep measurements, the researchers were able to exclude the effects of sleep deprivation, a well-known risk factor for dementia, from their findings. Previous research When we also controlled our sleep, we found that hot flashes and night sweats were related to sleep. poor memory performance and changes in brain structure, Functionality and connectivity.
“All of the findings converge to emphasize that there is something affecting the brain that contributes to nighttime vasomotor symptoms, separate from sleep itself,” she said.
Another study Thurston’s team presented at the conference looked at inflammatory markers of heart disease. Previous research by Thurston found that women said they had the following symptoms: frequent or persistent hot flashes During early menopause, your risk of cardiovascular events such as heart attack, stroke, and heart failure increases by 50% to 80%.
Experts say that frequent, moderate to severe hot flashes can last an average of 7 to 10 years, while infrequent or severe hot flashes can last even longer.
In this new study, scientists used sweat monitors from 276 women who participated in exercise. MS heart research More objectively measure the frequency and intensity of hot flashes day and night.
“Many people actually underreport their hot flashes, claiming they don’t occur that often when they actually do,” Fabion says. “This monitor gives us an objective way to quantify them.”
Researchers have determined that the frequency and intensity of hot flashes can be linked to C-reactive protein, a protein that indicates the level of inflammation in the body, which is used to determine the risk of heart disease and stroke in people who don’t already have heart disease. Comparisons were made with blood measurements.
The results showed that daytime hot flashes were associated with elevated levels of C-reactive protein, even after adjusting for other potential causes such as age. Body mass index (BMI)education, ethnicity, the hormone estradiol, and race.
“This is the first study to examine physiologically measured hot flashes in relation to inflammation, and adds to the growing body of evidence suggesting that hot flashes may represent a potential vascular risk.” said lead author Mary Carson, a clinical biohealth doctoral student. researchers from the University of Pittsburgh’s Department of Psychology said in a statement.
Heart disease is Main causes of death in women Fabion said doctors need to start asking patients about their experience of hot flashes as a risk factor for future disease.
“Women who are particularly likely to experience night sweats may need to be evaluated for their overall cardiovascular risk,” she says.
“When it comes to what you should do, the recommendations for heart and brain health will be the same: get better sleep, eat right, have a regular exercise program, reduce stress, stay socially connected, and Do something that stimulates your brain.”