Vasomotor symptoms (VMS) are a very distressing symptom in many perimenopausal and postmenopausal women. According to a new Korean study published in the journal Menopause, the chances of menopausal women experiencing hot flashes are less in women with sarcopenia, which is the loss of muscle mass occurring as a part of the natural aging process.

The trial enrolled 295 menopausal women aged 40 to 65 years, who were otherwise healthy, with the objective to study the association between VMS and sarcopenia. All the women had undergone CT abdomen during routine health checkups between January 2014 and May 2016 at a hospital in Seoul, South Korea. The CT scans were used to determine the cross-sectional areas of adipose and skeletal muscles. The skeletal muscle index (SMI) was calculated using the formula: sum of the skeletal muscle area (cm2) divided by height in meter square. SMI less than 34.9 cm2/m2 was used as the cut-off to define sarcopenia.

A total of 160 women reported experiencing VMS; of these, 86 rated their symptoms as mild, 48 as moderate and 18 as severe, while eight women reported their symptoms as very severe. Thirty-six women had sarcopenia. More women without VMS had sarcopenia versus those who reported having VMS; 18.5% vs. 6.9%, respectively (odds ratio 0.32) demonstrating an inverse relationship between the two. Hot flashes were positively associated with skeletal muscle mass (paraspinal muscle in particular) (OR 1.06) when the four muscle indexes were used as covariates instead of sarcopenia. As the name suggests, paraspinal muscles run parallel to the spinal column and support the back. They are also called erector spinae. The correlation between hot flashes and skeletal muscle mass was independent of factors like age, body mass index, waist circumference, insulin resistance, exercise, amount of adipose tissue, total cholesterol, alcohol intake and blood pressure.

According to the authors, their study is the first of its kind to examine the association between VMS and sarcopenia. VMS are less frequent in women with sarcopenia. It has shed light on a novel association of VMS with skeletal muscle mass, instead of adiposity or BMI. The study further suggests that menopausal women who do not complain of VMS should be screened for sarcopenia and its associated risks including reduced mobility, falls and fall-related injuries, diminished quality of life and heart disease. The authors recommend further studies to examine the association between VMS and body composition.

Reference

1. Ryu KJ, et al. Association between vasomotor symptoms and sarcopenia assessed by L3 skeletal muscle index among Korean menopausal women. Menopause: November 08, 2021 - Volume - Issue - doi: 10.1097/GME.0000000000001879.