Vasomotor and other menopause symptoms and the prevalence of ideal cardiovascular health metrics among premenopausal stage women

OBJECTIVE: We examined the association between menopause symptoms and the prevalence of ideal cardiovascular health (CVH) metrics among premenopausal women. METHODS: This cross-sectional study comprised 4,611 premenopausal women aged 42 to 52 years. Data for CVH metrics were collected during health screening examinations. Menopause symptoms were measured using the Korean version of the Menopause-Specific Quality of Life questionnaire. For vasomotor, psychosocial, physical, and sexual symptoms, participants were divided into absent or symptomatic groups, further divided into tertiles (range, 0-7; 7 being the most bothersome). Ideal CVH metrics were defined according to the American Heart Association Life Simple 7 metrics, except dietary component. Cardiovascular health metrics were scored from 0 (unhealthy) to 6 (healthy) and classified as poor (0-2), intermediate (3-4), and ideal (5-6). Multinomial logistic regression models were used to estimate the prevalence ratios for intermediate and poor CVH metrics using ideal CVH as the reference. RESULTS: The overall and 4 menopause-specific quality of life domain scores were significantly associated with poorer CVH metrics scores in a dose-response manner (P < 0.05). After adjusting for age, parity, education level, anti-Mullerian hormone levels, and alcohol intake, women with the most bothersome degree for vasomotor, psychosocial, physical, and sexual symptoms had significantly higher prevalence of poor CVH metrics, with corresponding prevalence ratios (95% confidence interval) of 2.90 (1.95-4.31), 2.07 (1.36-3.15), 3.01 (1.19-7.65), and 1.66 (1.15-2.39), respectively, compared with those without each vasomotor, psychosocial, physical, and sexual symptom. CONCLUSIONS: Premenopausal stage women with either vasomotor or nonvasomotor menopausal symptoms have significantly higher prevalence of poor CVH metrics, compared with those without any menopausal symptoms.