Conventional wisdom has it that hot flashes, bursts of intense warmth and sweating that afflict up to 80 percent of middle-aged women, last a few years. But they can actually last as long as 14 years, a study published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine found.
In a racially, ethnically and geographically diverse group of 1,449 women with frequent hot flashes or night sweats — the largest study to date — the median length of time women endured symptoms was 7.4 years. So, while half of the women were affected for less than that time, half had symptoms longer — some for at least 14 years, researchers reported. Over all, African-American and Hispanic women experienced hot flashes significantly longer than white or Asian women.
And in a particularly unfair hormonal twist, the study found that the earlier hot flashes started the longer they lasted. For women who got hot flashes before they stopped menstruating, the hot flashes were likely to continue for years after menopause, longer than for women whose symptoms only began when their periods had stopped.
“That having symptoms earlier in the transition bodes ill for your symptoms during menopause — that part is certainly new to me,” said Dr. C. Neill Epperson, director of University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Women’s Behavioral Wellness, who was not involved in the study. Perhaps, she and others suggested, early birds are more biologically sensitive to hormonal changes.
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Dr. Manson, a past-president of the North American Menopause Society, has helped the society develop a free app, MenoPro, to assist women deal with hot flashes, starting with nonmedical approaches, like lowering the thermostat, and cutting back on spicy foods, caffeine and alcohol.
Ms. Brown and Mary Hairston, 53, tried acupuncture in another study by Dr. Avis and colleagues, and found it helped. Before that, Ms. Hairston said, “every night I would just wake up, dripping wet.”
Now, when she starts sweating at the Italian restaurant where she waitresses, “I go stand in the cooler,” she said. “I used to get cold all the time and I would say I couldn’t wait to have hot flashes. Well, I got over that real quick.”
