Premenopausal anxiety level may predict hot flashes: strong association.(News)

BOCA RATON, FLA. -- Premenopausal women who reported high anxiety at enrollment in a 4-year study were up to 3.5 times as likely to experience hot flashes as their less anxious counterparts.

The significant correlation between anxiety and hot flashes was observed throughout the longitudinal cohort study, which included 436 women. Researchers were surprised by the strength of the association anxiety was the strongest predictor, even superseding depression, which has been more extensively studied in the literature.

"Everyone is talking about estradiol and depression. Anxiety booted it out of the water," Ellen W. Freeman, Ph.D., said at a meeting of the New Clinical Drug Evaluation Unit sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health.

Hot flashes are the most common menopausal symptom. About 70%-75% of menopausal women report hot flashes "and they differ greatly by severity," said Dr. Freeman, professor, departments of obstetrics-gynecology and psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

Dr. Freeman and her colleagues followed healthy premenopausal women as they entered the different phases of menopause. All participants had regular cycles at baseline. The study included 218 black and 218 white women ranging in age from 35 to 47 years.

Researchers evaluated participants every 8 months during the study. They assessed anxiety with the Zung anxiety scale, occurrence of hot ...