Women who get hot flashes have higher blood pressure than those who don't, according to a new study led by Weill Cornell Medical College.
High blood pressure is a major risk factor for heart disease -- the latter being responsible for half of all deaths among American women 50 and older.
"One-third of the women we studied reported having had hot flashes within the past two weeks. Among these women, systolic blood pressure was significantly higher -- even after adjusting for whether they were pre-menopausal, menopausal or post-menopausal," says Dr. Linda Gerber, the study's senior author, professor of public health and medicine and director of the biostatistics and research methodology core at Weill Cornell Medical College. "Future research will help us better understand the mechanisms underlying this relationship and may help to identify potential interventions that would reduce the impact of hot flashes on blood pressure."
While previous research has linked menopause to high blood pressure, the new Weill Cornell study, published in the March/April issue of Menopause: The Journal of the North American Menopause Society, may be the first to link hot flashes to high blood pressure.