title: Duration of menopausal vasomotor symptoms over the menopause transition.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The expected duration of menopausal vasomotor symptoms (VMS) is important to women making decisions about possible treatments.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine total duration of frequent VMS (≥ 6 days in the previous 2 weeks) (hereafter total VMS duration) during the menopausal transition, to quantify how long frequent VMS persist after the final menstrual period (FMP) (hereafter post-FMP persistence), and to identify risk factors for longer total VMS duration and longer post-FMP persistence.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (SWAN) is a multiracial/multiethnic observational study of the menopausal transition among 3302 women enrolled at 7 US sites. From February 1996 through April 2013, women completed a median of 13 visits. Analyses included 1449 women with frequent VMS.
  
  
  METHODS
  Total VMS duration (in years) (hot flashes or night sweats) and post-FMP persistence (in years) into postmenopause.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The median total VMS duration was 7.4 years. Among 881 women who experienced an observable FMP, the median post-FMP persistence was 4.5 years. Women who were premenopausal or early perimenopausal when they first reported frequent VMS had the longest total VMS duration (median, >11.8 years) and post-FMP persistence (median, 9.4 years). Women who were postmenopausal at the onset of VMS had the shortest total VMS duration (median, 3.4 years). Compared with women of other racial/ethnic groups, African American women reported the longest total VMS duration (median, 10.1 years). Additional factors related to longer duration of VMS (total VMS duration or post-FMP persistence) were younger age, lower educational level, greater perceived stress and symptom sensitivity, and higher depressive symptoms and anxiety at first report of VMS.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Frequent VMS lasted more than 7 years during the menopausal transition for more than half of the women and persisted for 4.5 years after the FMP. Individual characteristics (eg, being premenopausal and having greater negative affective factors when first experiencing VMS) were related to longer-lasting VMS. Health care professionals should counsel women to expect that frequent VMS could last more than 7 years, and they may last longer for African American women.
authors: Department of Social Sciences and Health Policy, Division of Public Health Sciences, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
authors: Nancy E
authors: NE
authors: Avis
authors: Division of Preventive and Behavioral Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Worcester.
authors: Sybil L
authors: SL
authors: Crawford
authors: Division of Geriatric Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, University of California, Los Angeles.
authors: Gail
authors: G
authors: Greendale
authors: Department of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
authors: Joyce T
authors: JT
authors: Bromberger
authors: Department of Medicine, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis.
authors: Susan A
authors: SA
authors: Everson-Rose
authors: Division of Epidemiology, Department of Public Health Sciences, UC Davis School of Medicine, University of California, Davis.
authors: Ellen B
authors: EB
authors: Gold
authors: Department of Medicine, University of Utah Schools of the Health Sciences, Salt Lake City.
authors: Rachel
authors: R
authors: Hess
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors: Hadine
authors: H
authors: Joffe
authors: Departments of Psychiatry and Preventive Medicine, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois.
authors: Howard M
authors: HM
authors: Kravitz
authors: Department of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
authors: Ping G
authors: PG
authors: Tepper
authors: Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
authors: Rebecca C
authors: RC
authors: Thurston
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000367:Age Factors; D001007:Anxiety / Q000150:complications; D001213:Asian / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003863:Depression / Q000150:complications; D004522:Educational Status; D015914:Estrogen Replacement Therapy; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019584:Hot Flashes / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008593:Menopause; D008598:Menstruation; D008875:Middle Aged; D017698:Postmenopause; D017697:Premenopause; D012307:Risk Factors; D057566:Self Report; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications; D013546:Sweating; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016387:Women's Health