Dive Brief:
- Researchers at the University of Massachusetts and Harvard School of Public Health have published a new study showing women with moderate-to-severe premenstrual syndrome (PMS) had a 40% higher risk of developing high blood pressure over the following 20 years. Clinically significant PMS affects up to 15% of women, according to the study's lead author Dr. Elizabeth Bertone-Johnson.
- For women younger than 40 years old, those with PMS had a three-fold higher risk of developing hypertension versus women without PMS.
- Since the study suggests PMS may be linked with future hypertension development, the authors recommend women with PMS be screened for adverse changes in blood pressure and future risk of hypertension.
Dive Insight:
The study included 1,257 women with clinically significant PMS developed between 1991 and 2005 and 2,463 controls who had few menstrual symptoms. Women with PMS had a hazard ratio for hypertension of 1.4 compared to women without PMS - an increased risk of 40%, which was considered statistically significant.
Although the study did not include whether participants were Medicaid enrollees, Healthcare Dive recently reported about a study in the American Journal of Public Health that showed adults with Medicaid were in better control of their high blood pressure compared to those with no insurance.
Another study, conducted by the National Institutes of Health, also previously reported in Healthcare Dive, showed older adults (50 years and older) with high blood pressure who target a systolic blood pressure below 120 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) reduce rates of cardiovascular events by 25%.