Physical activity and risk of vasomotor symptoms in women with and without a history of depression

In Brief Objective: To examine whether physical activity was associated with decreased risk of vasomotor symptoms in a prospective study of women transitioning through menopause. Design: Hypotheses were evaluated in the Harvard Study of Moods and Cycles, a longitudinal study of women with and without a history of major depression (N = 523). Ordinal logistic regression models were utilized to assess the odds of vasomotor symptoms (none, mild, moderate/severe; Greene Climacteric Scale) associated with physical activity (quartiles of metabolic equivalent-hours per week) at study enrollment and over a 3- to 5-year follow-up period. Results: No significant associations between physical activity and vasomotor symptoms were observed for the sample as a whole. However, exploratory analyses stratified by depression history revealed that among the 157 women with a lifetime history of major depression, high (odds ratio [OR] = 0.28, 95% CI: 0.09-0.83) or moderately high (OR = 0.33, 95% CI: 0.11-0.99) physical activity proximal to the vasomotor assessment, as well as consistently high (OR = 0.27, 95% CI: 0.10-0.75) or increasing (OR = 0.33, 95% CI: 0.12-0.92) physical activity over the duration of the 3- to 5-year follow-up period was associated with decreased vasomotor symptoms relative to sedentary behavior. No significant associations were observed for women without a history of depression. Conclusions: Physical activity may be associated with decreased risk of vasomotor symptoms among women with a history of major depression. Results from the Harvard Study of Moods and Cycles indicated that increased physical activity in the years before menopause was associated with decreased severity of vasomotor symptoms during the menopausal transition among women with a history of major depression only. This study suggests that physical activity, even initiated shortly before or during perimenopause, may be a promising nonpharmacologic approach in managing vasomotor symptoms in this subgroup of women.