Longitudinal Analysis of the Association Between Vasomotor Symptoms and Race/Ethnicity Across the Menopausal Transition: Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation

TLDR

The study examined whether vasomotor symptom patterns during the perimenopausal transition differ by race/ethnicity and whether these differences are explained by sociodemographic, health, or lifestyle factors. The authors followed 3,198 women from the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation between 1996 and 2002 and used longitudinal multiple logistic regression to assess vasomotor symptom frequency. African American women had the highest odds of vasomotor symptoms (adjusted OR 1.63), and late perimenopause was the strongest predictor (adjusted OR 6.64); other significant risk factors included age, lower education, higher BMI, smoking, and baseline anxiety, with symptoms most frequent in late perimenopause across all racial/ethnic groups.

Abstract

We investigated whether vasomotor symptom reporting or patterns of change in symptom reporting over the perimenopausal transition among women enrolled in a national study differed according to race/ethnicity. We also sought to determine whether racial/ethnic differences were explained by sociodemographic, health, or lifestyle factors.We followed 3198 women enrolled in the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation during 1996 through 2002. We analyzed frequency of vasomotor symptom reporting using longitudinal multiple logistic regressions.Rates of vasomotor symptom reporting were highest among African Americans (adjusted odds ratio [OR]=1.63; 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.21, 2.20). The transition to late perimenopause exhibited the strongest association with vasomotor symptoms (adjusted OR = 6.64; 95% CI = 4.80, 9.20). Other risk factors were age (adjusted OR=1.17; 95% CI=1.13, 1.21), having less than a college education (adjusted OR = 1.91; 95% CI = 1.40, 2.61), increasing body mass index (adjusted OR=1.03 per unit of increase; 95% CI=1.01, 1.04), smoking (adjusted OR=1.63; 95% CI=1.25, 2.12), and anxiety symptoms at baseline (adjusted OR=3.10; 95% CI=2.33, 4.12).Among the risk factors assessed, vasomotor symptoms were most strongly associated with menopausal status. After adjustment for covariates, symptoms were reported most often in all racial/ethnic groups in late perimenopause and nearly as often in postmenopause.