Vasomotor symptoms and carotid artery intima-media thickness among Korean midlife women

Menopausal vasomotor symptoms and subclinical atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease – a population-based study

“…The persisting association between severe VMS and coronary atherosclerosis after adjustment for conditions known to be prevalent in women with VMS, such as sleep disturbances and depression (13,14), is on the one hand surprising as VMS could have a negative impact on lifestyle and sleep quality, which in turn could increase the risk of ASCVD. On the other hand, our results are consistent with several previous studies of VMS in relation to subclinical CVD and incident manifest CVD where no substantial impact on the results were observed when adjusting for such covariates (22)(23)(24)(25)(26). Although it cannot be ruled out that severe VMS is merely a marker of an unfavorable cardiovascular risk profile, our findings of an independent relationship between severe VMS and coronary atherosclerosis could indicate an unknown underlying pathophysiological mechanism, either in the initiation or the progression of the atherosclerotic process in midlife women.…”

“…Still, we observed no significant associations after multiple adjustments (Supplementary Table 12). These findings are in line with most previous studies on VMS in relation to CACS and/or carotid atherosclerosis (21), with some exceptions (22,23). CCTA is a diagnostical and non-invasive angiographic method able to detect coronary artery disease (CAD), compared to CAC that rather predicts risk for future manifest CVD events (42).…”

“…Studies on measures of subclinical ASCVD have yielded discrepant results. Associations with carotid intima media thickness (C-IMT) and aortic calcification have been demonstrated (21)(22)(23)(24) but not with coronary artery calcium (CAC) (21). In prospective studies, associations between VMS and major adverse cardiac events (MACE) have been observed (25,26).…”

Vasomotor Symptoms, Cardiovascular Risk and the Role of Physical Activity in Midlife Women

“…No corresponding associations were observed between severe VMS and SIS >3, CACS >100, or any carotid plaque, and to improve comparison to previous study results, we added analyses on VMS concerning CACS >0. These findings align with most earlier studies on VMS concerning CACS and/or carotid atherosclerosis (123), with some exceptions (135,136). One plausible explanation is that CCTA is a more refined method to detect atherosclerosis (200) than CAC, which instead predicts the risk for future manifest CVD events (88).…”

“…Studies on measures of subclinical ASCVD in association with VMS have yielded discrepant results (123). Associations with C-IMT and aortic calcification have been demonstrated (123,(135)(136)(137) but not with CAC (123). Studies with clinically manifested ASCVD are neither consistently reported.…”