- Obesity is a risk factor for many serious health conditions, including high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes.
- New research suggests that obesity may also increase the severity of menopausal symptoms, such as hot flashes.
- In addition, the study found that hormone therapy to relieve menopause symptoms may be less effective in women with obesity.
Obesity is increasing worldwide, with some
Obesity increases the risk of many health conditions, including heart attacks, strokes, type 2 diabetes, respiratory conditions, and musculoskeletal problems.
New research now suggests that obesity may also increase the severity of menopausal symptoms and reduce the efficacy of hormone therapy in relieving those symptoms. Lead author Dr. Anita Pershad, from the Eastern Virginia Medical School, told Medical News Today:
“The main takeaway of our study is that obesity may worsen a woman’s menopausal symptoms and limit the amount of relief she gets from hormone therapy (HT).”
However, Dr. Kara McElligot, obstetrician-gynecologist, NAMS-certified menopause practitioner, and medical advisor at Mira, cautioned:
“This was a pilot study (only 119 participants) and was performed retrospectively by chart review. This type of study has a high risk of bias, which means that it cannot prove whether women with obesity have worse menopause symptoms nor whether the efficacy of hormone therapy is lower in women with obesity.”
The findings were presented at the 2023 Annual Meeting of The Menopause Society in Philadelphia, September 27-30. The research hasn’t been published in a peer-reviewed journal.
This five-year study examined the health records of 119 women who…
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