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Smokers with gene variant at increased risk for menopausal hot flashes
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In a cross-sectional analysis of data from the Penn Ovarian Aging Study, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania found that white women who were double-variant carriers of COMT Val158Met and smoked were more likely to have hot flashes than nonsmokers.
Data from the CDC estimates that more than 20 million women (18.3% of the adult female population) smoke cigarettes, the researchers wrote.
Samantha F. Butts, MD, MSCE, clinician and assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues conducted an ongoing population-based cohort study of late reproductive-aged women (35 to 47 years), called the Penn Ovarian Aging Study. The purpose was to examine the relationship between smoking and hot flashes “as a function of genetic variation in sex steroid-metabolizing enzymes,” they wrote.
The cohort study included 436 women identified via random digit dialing, then categorized them by race (218 black, 218 white). Eleven years after the study was initiated, researchers wrote that 296 patients provided complete clinical, smoking and genetic data.
Interviews, blood samples and BMI measurements were conducted in two visits occurring between days 1 and 6 of two consecutive menstrual cycles (approximately 4 weeks apart in noncycling women). In addition, single nucleotide polymorphisms in five genes were examined.
Researchers found that compared with nonsmokers, white women who were double-variant carriers of COMT Val158Met and smoked had increased odds of hot flashes (OR=6.15; 95% CI, 1.32-28.78). Similarly, white women who were double-variant carriers of COMT Val158Met and smoked heavily had more frequent moderate or severe hot flashes than nonsmokers (OR=13.7; 95% CI, 1.64-257.93) and never-smokers (OR=20.59; 95% CI, 1.39-304.68). However, black patients carrying single-variant CYP1A2 who smoked were more likely to report hot flashes than nonsmoking carriers (OR=6.16; 95% CI, 1.11-33.91).
“In presenting genetic characteristics of smokers at greatest risk for hot flashes, studies as ours may help providers better allocate resources for smoking cessation in menopausal women,” the researchers said.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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