Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Oct;129(11):1926-1934.
doi: 10.1111/1471-0528.17224. Epub 2022 Jun 7.

Metabolically healthy and unhealthy obesity and risk of vasomotor symptoms in premenopausal women: cross-sectional and cohort studies

Sunju Namgoung  1   2 , Yoosoo Chang  1   3 , Chae-Yeon Woo  1 , Yejin Kim  1 , Jeonggyu Kang  1 , Ria Kwon  1   4 , Ga-Young Lim  1   4 , Hye Rin Choi  1   4 , Kye-Hyun Kim  5 , Hoon Kim  6 , Yun Soo Hong  7 , Di Zhao  7 , Juhee Cho  7   8 , Eliseo Guallar  7 , Hyun-Young Park  9 , Seungho Ryu  1   3
Affiliations

Metabolically healthy and unhealthy obesity and risk of vasomotor symptoms in premenopausal women: cross-sectional and cohort studies

Sunju Namgoung et al. BJOG. 2022 Oct.

Abstract

Objective: To examine the relationship between metabolically healthy and unhealthy obesity phenotypes and risk of vasomotor symptoms (VMS) in premenopausal women.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Setting: Middle-aged women in a cohort based on regular health screening examinations.

Population: Premenopausal Korean women aged 42-52 years were recruited and were followed up for a median of 4.2 years. The cross-sectional and cohort studies comprised 4672 women and 2590 women without VMS at baseline, respectively.

Methods: Adiposity measures included body mass index (BMI), waist circumference and percentage body fat. Being metabolically healthy was defined as not having any metabolic syndrome components or a homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance of 2.5 or more.

Main outcomes measures: VMS (hot flushes and night sweats) assessed using the questionnaire.

Results: All adiposity measures were positively associated with an increased risk of VMS in both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. The multivariable-adjusted prevalence ratio (95% confidence interval [CI]) for VMS comparing percentage body fat of 35% or more with the reference was 1.47 (95% CI 1.14-1.90) in metabolically healthy women, and the corresponding prevalence ratio was 2.32 (95% CI 1.42-3.78) in metabolically unhealthy women (Pinteraction = 0.334). The multivariable-adjusted hazard ratio for incident VMS comparing percentage body fat of 35% or more with the reference was 1.34 (95% CI 1.00-1.79) in metabolically healthy women, whereas the corresponding hazard ratio was 3.61 (95% CI 1.81-7.20) in metabolically unhealthy women (Pinteraction = 0.036). The association between BMI, waist circumference and VMS did not significantly differ by metabolic health status.

Conclusions: Maintaining normal weight and being metabolically healthy may help to prevent VMS in premenopausal women.

Tweetable abstract: Avoiding obesity and a metabolically unhealthy status may help reduce vasomotor symptoms in premenopausal women.

Keywords: body composition; body mass index; cohort study; metabolic health; obesity; percentage body fat; premenopausal women; vasomotor symptoms; waist circumference.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

All authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Thurston RC, Joffe H. Vasomotor symptoms and menopause: findings from the Study of Women's Health across the Nation. Obstet Gynecol Clin North Am. 2011. Sep;38(3):489–501. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Gold EB, Colvin A, Avis N, Bromberger J, Greendale GA, Powell L, et al. Longitudinal analysis of the association between vasomotor symptoms and race/ethnicity across the menopausal transition: study of women's health across the nation. Am J Public Health. 2006;96(7):1226–35. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Pinkerton JV, Abraham L, Bushmakin AG, Cappelleri JC, Komm BS. Relationship between changes in vasomotor symptoms and changes in menopause‐specific quality of life and sleep parameters. Menopause. 2016;23(10):1060–6. - PubMed
    1. Kaunitz AM, Manson JE. Management of menopausal symptoms. Obstet Gynecol. 2015;126(4):859–76. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Avis NE, Crawford SL, Greendale G, Bromberger JT, Everson‐Rose SA, Gold EB, et al. Duration of menopausal vasomotor symptoms over the menopause transition. JAMA Intern Med. 2015;175(4):531–9. - PMC - PubMed