Gestational Hypertensive Disease may Escalate Risk of Severe Hot Flashes at Menopause

Most of the medical conditions a woman experiences during pregnancy may be temporary, but these can sometimes leave a lasting effect on her future health. Highlighting this theory, a team of researchers from the Netherlands found that women who had any type of hypertensive disease during pregnancy are at an increased risk of many severe forms of hot flashes and night sweats during menopause.

Hot flashes are the extreme kind of heat experienced by women, around the neck and head regions, before or at the beginning of menopause (when the menstrual period stops). The condition is primarily an aftereffect of the hormonal changes (decline in the level of estrogen) that women undergo before the aging procedure.

The sudden onset of high blood pressure - above 140/90 - at 20 weeks of pregnancy is termed as gestational hypertension. According to the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, high blood pressure affects between 6 and 8 percent of pregnant women in the U.S.  In some cases, gestational hypertension develops into pre-eclampsia and later, eclampsia. Pre-eclampsia is a condition that triggers hypertension and will have a negative impact on both the pregnant woman and her baby.

Women suffering from pre-eclampsia will have high blood pressure, fluid retention and protein in the urine, leading to an adverse impact on the growth of the unborn baby in the uterus. The exact cause of this condition is not yet fully known. Pregnancy-induced hypertension reaches its peak with eclampsia, a condition where women with pre-eclampsia suffer frequent episodes of seizures.

The study, published Tuesday in The North American Menopause Society's journal Menopause, looked at 853 women. Of the total participants, 274 had been diagnosed with hypertensive disease during pregnancy. Nearly 82 percent of the women reported experiencing a severe form of hot flashes and night sweats at night.

Confirming previous studies that have linked gestational hypertension to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease later in life, researchers found that 50 percent of the participants carried cardiac symptoms.