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Medical News Today
14-07-2025
- Health
- Medical News Today
4 habits may help lower heart disease risk during menopause
Past studies have shown that menopause can raise a woman's risk for several health conditions, including sleep disorders and heart disease.A new study found that only about one in five menopausal women have ideal scores on the American Heart Association's health-assessment tool Life's Essential 8 (LE8). Scientists also discovered that of the LE8's components, four of them were the most important factors for driving future cardiovascular health risks. Almost all cisgender women between the ages of 45 to 55 years old will experience menopause — a hormonal change that marks the end of a woman's menstrual cycle. Researchers estimate that more than 1 billion women globally will be in menopause in studies have shown that menopause can raise a woman's risk for several health conditions, including osteoporosis, obesity, depression, urinary incontinence, sleep disorders, and heart disease. 'In the late 40s, around the time of the menopause transition, women undergo many significant changes in their cardiovascular health,' Samar R. El Khoudary, PhD, MPH, professor of epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health, told Medical News Today. Changes that happen during menopause'There's an increase in visceral fat, which we know has implications for heart health. There is an increase in risk of metabolic syndrome, which is a combination of three out of five factors including waist circumference, glucose, triglycerides, HDL (high-density lipoprotein cholesterol), and blood pressure. There's a change in vascular health, with increasing thickness and stiffness in the carotid artery. And with the symptoms of menopause, sleep can suffer, as well.' — Samar R. El Khoudary, PhD, MPHEl Khoudary is the senior author of a new study recently published in the journal Menopause that found that about one in five menopausal women have ideal scores on the American Heart Association's health-assessment tool Life's Essential 8 (LE8). Scientists also discovered that of the LE8's components, four of them — blood glucose, blood pressure, sleep quality, and nicotine use — were the most important factors for driving future cardiovascular health Essential 8 for healthFor this study, researchers analyzed health data from about 3,000 women who participated in the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (SWAN), which is an ongoing study of midlife women that started in 1996. Scientists examined study participant LE8 scores at baseline, around age 46, and into the future. The LE8 includes eight specific health behaviors and factors to help determine a person's heart health:Be more activeControl cholesterolEat betterGet healthy sleepManage blood pressureManage blood sugarManage weightQuit tobacco'The eight components identified by the American Heart Association as being linked to cardiovascular disease risk are already well established,' El Khoudary explained. 'What remains unclear, however, is how well women in midlife are doing in relation to these components.''Our previous work has revealed that the menopause transition is really a critical turning point, a time when women experience changes in many components of Life's Essential 8,' she continued. 'So, women really need to work to counteract all of those changes in midlife to protect their cardiovascular health in the ensuing years.'Only 1 in 5 menopausal women have ideal heart health scores At the end of the study, El Khoudary and her team found that four LE8 components — managing blood sugar and blood pressure, sleep quality, and nicotine use — were the main factors driving study participants' future heart disease risk. 'This finding is important because it highlights key areas … that may have the greatest impact on future heart health for women,' El Khoudary explained. 'However, our study did not test whether targeting these specifically leads to better outcomes than focusing on other factors. This is an important question for future clinical trials to explore.'Researchers also discovered that only one in five menopausal women have an ideal LE8 score. 'When we compare this to the general population, the prevalence is very close,' El Khoudary said. 'There's very low prevalence of optimal LE8 scores. Unfortunately, many people still need to do more, including women who are in this vulnerable stage, the menopause transition. Of course, that's easier said than done! There are many barriers to living up to Life's Essential 8. And there is also a lack of awareness. We need to continue to work to address both of those challenges.''Next, we need to understand why many midlife women struggle to maintain ideal heart health and what barriers they face. Research should focus on testing interventions targeting glucose, blood pressure, nicotine use, and sleep to reduce long-term risk. Improving sleep quality also deserves more attention. Ultimately, finding effective ways to help women adopt and stick to healthy habits is key.'— Samar R. El Khoudary, PhD, MPHManaging heart disease risk factors are important MNT spoke with Cheng-Han Chen, MD, a board certified interventional cardiologist and medical director of the Structural Heart Program at MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center in Laguna Hills, CA, about this study. 'This study examined various health measures and outcomes in midlife women, and found associations between multiple parameters such as blood sugar control, blood pressure, smoking, and sleep quality, and the future risk of developing cardiovascular disease,' Chen said. 'These results reinforce the importance of risk factor management in preventing future cardiovascular events for not only perimenopausal women, but across all demographics.' 'As heart disease remains the leading cause of death in women, identifying and controlling the risk factors during menopause for future cardiovascular events can have a tremendous impact on their health in the following years,' he continued. 'Future efforts in this area should focus on increasing public health awareness and public policy towards promoting heart-healthy habits in perimenopausal women,' he does menopause affect heart health?MNT also spoke with Nissi Suppogu, MD, a board certified cardiologist and Medical Director of the Women's Heart Center at MemorialCare Heart & Vascular Institute at Long Beach Medical Center in Long Beach, CA, about this research to find out why menopause might negatively impact a woman's heart health. 'The declining estrogen production from the ovaries is the beginning of all physiological changes at a cellular level. There is less availability of nitric oxide production, increase in inflammation, and changes in stiffness and tone of the vascular smooth muscles. This in turn leads to an increase in blood pressure, an increase in bad cholesterol going up and good cholesterol levels going down, weight gain, depression and stress, hot flashes, and sleep disturbances which in turn affect heart health in these women.'— Nissi Suppogu, MD'I think it is fair to say that we now understand that lower estrogen levels around menopause play an important role in cardiovascular health outcomes,' she continued. 'Having established this connection, it is imperative to understand when and how we can alter the trajectory for better outcomes.''We already know that it is not enough to just replace hormones, it most certainly helps in some women when it's done at the right time, but it is not enough. That's why it makes it so crucial to find other interventions and treatments that can work in this pre, perimenopausal environment,' she said that this link between LH8 scores' impact on cardiovascular health and sleep could spark further research into sleep interventions, and how changes in LH8 score may affect heart health.'Because treating sleep would not just mean just sleep — but goes along with what is actually causing sleep issues in peri/menopausal women along with management of hot flashes, depression, decreased physical activity, and so on that tend to affect ability to fall asleep or stay asleep for longer periods of time,' she added.
ABC News
14-05-2025
- Health
- ABC News
GPs in Western Australia concerned about conducting fitness tests for firearm licences
West Australian doctors say they're worried about new laws that put the burden on them to assess if someone is fit to hold a firearm licence, their peak body says. The WA government has introduced the sweeping new laws in the wake of the high-profile murders of Jennifer Petelczyc and her 18-year-old daughter Gretl. But a recent poll of doctors by the Royal Australian College of GPs (RACGP) found 80 per cent said "no" when asked whether they'd be willing to provide a firearms health assessment for their patients. Dr Mariam Bahamia, deputy chair of the RACGP in WA said its members held many concerns about the fitness tests. "The RACGP supports measures that reduce the potential for firearms harms," Dr Bahamia told ABC Radio Perth. Dr Bahamia said for GPs in rural and remote areas, conducting fitness tests and in particular — refusing someone certification — could place them under pressure in a small community. "These GPs live alongside their patients in the same community," she said. "We wouldn't want any new laws having unintended consequences, such as straining community relationships or the therapeutic relationship that a GP has with their patients. She said doctors also have reservations about saying whether a person is suitable to possess a firearm for five years on the basis of one assessment. "The question really broadly being asked is whether the individual has anything that could impact their ability to have the safe use and possession of a firearm, which could impact themselves or others. "GPs have been reluctant to become proxy decision makers as to the eligibility to be granted a firearm authority. "We are not the only decision makers when it comes to the new firearm authority laws, there are many, many different stages that applicants have to go through. But for us, this is new." Unlike drivers licence assessments, which mainly involve judging a patients' physical and cognitive capacity, the firearms assessments require complex judgements about a patient's mental health. "With the firearm license, there's a heavy emphasis on mental health and perhaps, substance abuse and history of violence or suicidal ideation and the cognitive stability of a patient. "We have to have information about past psychiatric diagnoses and medications, and there's a different complexity and professional judgement involved when issuing a firearm health authority. "In a way we're being asked to judge risk based sometimes on incomplete information." Dr Bahamia said the system was still in the first weeks of implementation and as time passes, the RACGP would get a clearer picture of what GPs are experiencing. Commander Lawrence Panaia from WA Police said doctors should not be concerned about being held responsible if someone misuses a firearm after passing a health assessment. "We worked for about the last 18 months with the health department and the Royal College of GPs to get these health assessments," Commander Panaia said. "If that's a service that a patient is asking them to provide, it's their choice whether they do or don't. "But what they've also got to remember is that the commissioner of police is the final decision maker in granting someone a licence, not the medical profession. "At the end of the day, they're protected."
