VIDEO: Menopause symptoms may be associated with later health risks

ANAHEIM, Calif. — In this video exclusive, Nanette Santoro, MD, describes paradigm shifts in understanding the menopause transition and its implications for health.

Santoro, who is a professor and the E. Stewart Taylor Chair of OB/GYN at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, explains that menopause is an “irregularly irregular” process in which the ovary responds to a reduced follicle supply. This results in higher hormone elevations and lower hormone drops and can produce prodromal symptoms even before abnormal menstruation is noticed.

During the late transition — “the speed bump of reproductive life” — symptoms traditionally associated with menopause tend to worsen, Santoro said. The presence or severity of symptoms may be related to future health; for example, hot flashes may increase risk for later cardiovascular disease.

“What we don’t know is [whether] treating those symptoms will mitigate that risk or if it’s just a property of the patient herself,” Santoro told Healio.