The new findings suggest that women with PMS should be screened for high blood pressure, the researchers said. And the association was even stronger for those participants between 27 and 40 years old: In this age group (versus those in the study who were older than 40), women with PMS had three times the risk that women without PMS had for developing hypertension in the next 20 years. “The study is important in identifying an important condition that should lead to closer observation for the onset of high blood pressure”, said Dr. Stacey Rosen, vice president of women’s health at The Katz Institute for Women’s Health in New Hyde Park, N.Y., the WebMD reported.
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B vitamins, the researchers also found, might help those women experiencing PMS and high blood pressure.
Another expert who was not part of the study suggested women with bad PMS must also undergo screening regularly in order to keep their blood pressure in check and prevent life-threatening conditions.
After adjusting for high blood pressure risk factors such as being overweight or obese, smoking, drinking, inactivity, use of birth control pills, postmenopausal hormone use and family history of high blood pressure, the researchers said that the higher risk is still there. The first group of 1,257 women showed clinically significant symptoms between the years 1991 and 2005, while the other group of similar-aged 2,463 women showed fewer symptoms.
“Evidence suggests that prevalence in young women is increasing and despite the availability of effective treatments, less than half of hypertension in women younger than 40 years of age is treated”, Researcher Elizabeth Bertone-Johnson, of the University of MA, told Daily Mail. It is important to note that women with high intakes of B vitamins – thiamine and riboflavin – did not have an increased risk of hypertension. The team then determined how many of these women developed hypertension until 2011. She warns “We are seeing hypertension increase in women younger and younger”.
Dr. Deena Adimoolam is assistant professor of medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City.
Premenstrual syndrome, or PMS, tends to be associated with killer cramps, mood swings and fatigue. “We are seeing hypertension increase in women younger and younger”, said Women’s Heart Health Doctor Suzanne Steinbaum.
This study was published November 24 in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
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As many women will attest, premenstrual syndrome (PMS) can cause a lot of discomfort.
