Hot Flashes May be Linked to Higher Cholesterol Levels

Hot flashes are reportedly associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, and high cholesterol levels are also linked to heart disease, so it’s not surprising that someone would examine whether there’s an association between high cholesterol levels and hot flashes.  Sure enough, University of Pittsburgh researchers gave a paper at the North American Menopausal Society meeting along these lines.

The scientists followed 3,201 women aged 42 to 52 for 7 years.  At baseline and annually thereafter, blood lipid profiles were measured, along with the apolipoproteins ApoE and ApoA; ApoE is necessary for the breakdown of lipoproteins, and ApoA is a main constituent of the high-density lipoprotein cholesterol – HDL-C or the ‘good’ cholesterol.  Hot flashes frequency was reckoned as the number of flashes experienced during a 2-week period. 

Women who had hot flashes on 6 or more days per 2-week period were considered to have a high frequency. Compared with women who had no hot flashes, they had significantly raised levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), HDL-C, triglycerides, ApoE, and ApoA.  The more hot flashes the women had, the higher their LDL-C levels. The findings were unchanged after corrections were made for other possible risk factors for raised cholesterol, including weight and age.

These findings are not really surprising – there are merely adding the missing link to the triad hot-flashes-cardiovascular risk-cholesterol levels.  But it serves as a reminder that cholesterol levels should be measured at regular intervals in women when they enter menopause, and increased levels should lead to consideration of other cardiovascular risk factors and their correction.