This is something that women dread every month. Many would call it "Shark Week". And many call it that because of the things they experienced, such as headaches, fatigue, pain and other premenstrual syndrome which they also refer to as monthly sufferings.
According to an article in Live Science, PMS or premenstrual syndrome is not only a monthly struggle but it can be a sign for future health problems for women who suffer PMS every month. A new study showed that women who suffer PMS every month have a higher risk of having high blood pressure in the future.
The team of researchers discovered that women who experienced PMS from the start of the study are 40 percent likely to develop high blood pressure over the next 20 years of their life compared to women who experienced less premenstrual symptoms. In fact, high blood pressure is a major factor for heart diseases and stroke.
The study author Elizabeth Bertone-Johnson, an epidemiologist at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst said, "To my knowledge, this is the first large, long-term study to suggest that PMS may be related to risk of chronic health conditions in later life." The team examined 1,250 women and the relationship between high blood pressure and PMS. These women have clinically developed PMS between 1991 and 2005 and about 2,500 women who experienced less menstrual symptoms.
The women are between the ages of 25 and 42 when the study was done and they were followed for the next 20 years. When the study started, the participants were asked every two years whether they experienced and received high blood pressure diagnosis from their doctors. There was a connection between high blood pressure and PMS for women who 40 years old and below. The women in this group who experienced PMS were three times more likely to have high blood pressure compared to women in the same group who did not have PMS. Because of the new findings, the researchers suggested that women with PMS should be checked for high blood pressure.
Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, director of Women's Heart Health at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, who was not involved in the new study, said "We are seeing hypertension increase in women younger and younger, and now we are really honing in on who is at risk for high blood pressure and subsequent heart disease."
Finally, the researchers said that the women with PMS but consumed high amounts of B vitamins like thiamine and riboflavin were less likely to develop high blood pressure later in life than women who consumed less.
