Severe hot flashes, high risk of heart attack

Christiane Fux studied journalism and psychology in Hamburg. The experienced medical editor has been writing magazine articles, news and factual texts on all conceivable health topics since 2001. In addition to her work for, Christiane Fux is also active in prose. Her first crime novel was published in 2012, and she also writes, designs and publishes her own crime plays.

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Women who suffer from hot flashes or night sweats during the menopause are at a significantly increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

Researchers at the University of Queensland found that at least the risk of non-fatal heart attacks, strokes or even coronary heart disease is 70 percent higher for women with severe symptoms than for women without such menopausal symptoms.

"If such symptoms occurred before the women reached menopause, the chances of cardiovascular problems were 40 percent higher," reports study director Dr. Dongshan Zhu.

Dysregulation of the autonomic nervous system?

The exact mechanism for this connection is not yet known. In fact, hot flashes and night sweats belong to the so-called vasomotor symptoms. This means that they arise due to incorrect regulation in the vegetative system - and that is also significantly involved in blood pressure regulation. High blood pressure, on the other hand, is a main driver of age-related cardiovascular diseases.

Severity of symptoms more important than frequency

According to the researchers, more decisive than the frequency and duration of hot flashes and sweats is their intensity: "Women who suffered from severe seizures were more than twice as likely to have non-fatal cardiovascular incidents as women without these symptoms," said them Zhu.

The analysis was based on data from more than 23,000 women from a total of six studies. Participants who suffered from cardiovascular problems at the beginning of the examination were not recorded.

What women can do themselves

The results provide the opportunity to determine risk candidates for heart disease in advance. Women who suffered from severe symptoms should be monitored particularly closely for their cardiovascular health, according to the researchers.

There are many ways to prevent cardiovascular incidents. This includes drugs for high blood pressure but also lifestyle adjustments. The following are effective here:

• Loss of excess weight
• regular physical exercise
• Stress relief
• a "heart-healthy" diet like the Mediterranean diet
• Quit smoking too much alcohol

Estrogen protects against heart problems

Medicine has long known the phenomenon that younger women develop cardiovascular diseases less often than men. But with the menopause, the risk of heart attacks and co. Increases for them too. The reason for this is that the level of the hormone estrogen, which also has a cardio-protective function, then falls.

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