Associations of Demographic and Menopause-Related Characteristics with SCORE2 Cardiovascular Risk Among Women Aged 45 to 55 Years: A Retrospective Analysis

Abstract

AbstractObjectives: Menopause-related symptoms and hormonal changes may influence cardiovascular risk. We assessed demographic and menopause-related characteristics associated with SCORE2 risk in women aged 45–55 years.Materials and Methods: This retrospective observational study included 192 women. The primary outcome was SCORE2 cardiovascular risk (%). Prespecified predictors were postmenopausal status and vasomotor symptoms, with education modeled as an ordinal variable and BMI, parity, follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), and estradiol (E2) included as covariates. SCORE2 components were not entered as predictors because they are used to calculate SCORE2. Continuous variables were summarized as mean (standard deviation) or median (interquartile range), and categorical variables as n/N (percent%). Multivariable linear regression and Spearman rank correlations were performed using a complete case approach.Results: Median age was 50.0 (48.0 to 52.0) years and median SCORE2 risk was 3.2 (2.1 to 5.0). Current smoking was present in 63/192 (32.8%), and 129/192 (67.2%) participants were postmenopausal. SCORE2 risk categories were low to moderate in 117/192 (60.9%), high in 58/192 (30.2%), and very high in 17/192 (8.9%). In multivariable regression, postmenopausal status (beta 0.542, 95% CI −0.633 to 1.717) and vasomotor symptoms (beta 0.689, 95% CI −0.162 to 1.540) were not significantly associated with SCORE2 risk (%). Spearman correlations were weak for vasomotor symptoms (rho 0.154) and postmenopausal status (rho 0.152). Among women aged 45 to 55 years, demographic and menopause-related characteristics showed weak crude correlations with SCORE2 risk and were not independently associated with SCORE2 risk in multivariable models.Keywords: menopause; hot flashes; cardiovascular diseases