Oxidative stress and menopause-related hot flashes may be independent events

At present, there is growing demand for alternative, or additional, treatments to hormone replacement therapy for menopause-related hot flashes (HF). Antioxidant supplements have been recently proposed as possible candidates for this purpose, regardless of the absence of clear evidence in support of a link between these vasomotor symptoms and oxidative stress (OxS). The aim of our study was to evaluate the association between HF and OxS serum markers in a large sample of middle-aged women.

We conducted a cross-sectional study on 245 perimenopausal and early postmenopausal women (age 45-60 years). The variables examined were presence of self-reported HF and levels of 8-iso-prostaglandin F2α, 8-OH-deoxy-2'-guanosine, advanced oxidation protein products, total antioxidant power, uric acid, thiols, and paroxonase-1.

Seventy-six women (31%) reported to suffer from HF (either medium or high intensity). None of the peripheral markers of OxS examined was found to be significantly associated with the presence of HF.

Taken together, our data suggest that systemic OxS might not be implicated with the onset of the climacteric vasomotor symptoms that most commonly affect women experiencing perimenopause and early postmenopause.