Hot flushes still occur in a population of 85-year-old Swedish women

Abstract

Objectives Hot flushes and night sweats often cause discomfort and may negatively affect sleep and quality of life. Studies have shown that menopausal symptoms, like hot flushes, may persist for up to 20 years after the menopausal transition, but there are no published studies regarding the occurrence of hot flushes among women older than 80 years. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of hot flushes in 85-year-old women.

Methods All 85-year old women living in Linköping municipality in 2007 (n = 415) received a postal questionnaire. The majority, 74% (n = 307), answered the questionnaire and 47% (n = 194) agreed to visit the Department of Geriatric Medicine; during this visit questions regarding hot flushes and use of hormone therapy were asked.

Results About 16% (n = 29) of the women experienced hot flushes during the day and/or during the night and 6.5% (n = 12) of the women were currently using hormone therapy. Almost 10% (n = 17) of all responding women were very to moderately distressed by their hot flushes.

Conclusion Our results confirm and extend previous knowledge based on studies of younger postmenopausal women in showing that menopausal symptoms still occur in elderly women. We found that, while the prevalence of menopausal symptoms decreases with age, these symptoms are still experienced by some 85-year-old women.

Key words::

• MENOPAUSE
• HOT FLUSHES
• OLD AGE
• HORMONE THERAPY

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We are thankful for statistical advice from Marie Bladh.

Conflict of interest The authors report no conflict of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this paper.

Source of funding This work was supported by grants from The Health Research Council in the South-East of Sweden (grant numbers FORSS-8888, FORSS-11636, FORSS-31811); the County of Östergötland (LIO-11877, LIO-31321, LIO-79951) and the Family Janne Elgqvist Foundation.