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

Objectives: To evaluate the association between vasomotor symptoms (VMS) and carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) in Korean midlife women.

Study Design: This cross-sectional study included 918 Korean women aged 45-65 years who attended their routine health checkup at a single institution between 2013 and 2016.

Main Outcome Measures: All participants' results on the Menopause Rating Scale were used to assess the VMS. Severe and very severe VMS were combined into severe VMS. CIMT and blood flow velocities were measured on the common carotid arteries using duplex ultrasound.

Results: All participants' mean age was 54.73 ± 5.37 years, and 627 (68.3%) were postmenopausal. A total of 401 (43.7%) women reported VMS: 217 (23.6%), mild; 109 (11.9%), moderate; and 75 (8.2%), severe. The mean CIMT was 0.062 ± 0.017 mm and 0.064 ± 0.019 mm in premenopausal and menopausal women, respectively. In the multivariate linear regression analysis, the CIMT of women with moderate VMS was 0.102 mm (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.002-0.009) more than that of women with no VMA, and the CIMT of women with severe VMS was 0.246 mm (95% CI = 0.012-0.021) more than that of women with no VMS, after adjusting for several confounders, including age, body mass index, and lifestyle factors. Severe VMS were associated with the risk of thickened CIMT (≥0.075 mm) and/or plaques (odds ratio = 2.90, 95% CI = 1.74-4.84) in the logistic regression analysis after adjusting for the same variables.

Conclusions: Moderate and severe VMS are independently associated with increased CIMT in otherwise healthy Korean midlife women. Clinicians managing midlife women with bothersome VMS should consider screening for subclinical cardiovascular diseases.