Physical Activity Alone and in Combination With Hormone Replacement Therapy on Vasomotor Symptoms in Postmenopausal Women

Abstract

The purposes of this study were (a) to examine the influence of physical activity alone, and in combination with, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) on vasomotor symptoms and (b) to identify factors that are predictive of vasomotor symptoms at menopause. A total of 239 postmenopausal women completed a modified Women’s Health Assessment scale, a Usual Physical Activity questionnaire, and a Health History and Demographic questionnaire. It was found the inactive women without HRT experienced more vasomotor symptoms than women with HRT, regardless of their levels of physical activity. Physical activity, however, may be synergistic to HRT, as a trend was noted that within the same HRT–non-HRT groups, active women tended to report fewer vasomotor symptoms than inactive women, although the difference did not reach statistical significance. In addition, sociodemographic and health-related variables had limited predictive power for vasomotor symptoms.