The Midlife Women’s Health Study – a study protocol of a longitudinal prospective study on predictors of menopausal hot flashes

The MWHS study was designed to test the hypothesis that obesity is associated with hot flashes through: a) early ovarian follicle loss/failure, b) selected genetic polymorphisms in the genes that encode enzymes that synthesize and degrade sex steroids and/or the receptors that allow tissues to respond to sex steroids, or c) mechanisms involving early follicle loss/failure, altered sex steroid hormone levels, and genetic polymorphisms in genes that encode enzymes that synthesize and degrade sex steroids and/or receptors that respond to sex steroids (this part of the study is yet to be conducted