Using data on 50-year-old women from four different population studies within the Prospective Population Study of Women in Gothenburg, Sweden, the prospective longitudinal study compared the prevalence of daily hot flashes for women in earlier-born cohorts (1918 and 1930) to those in later-born cohorts (1954 and 1966).
Researchers found that later-born women were nearly twice as likely to experience daily hot flashes than earlier-born women, even after adjusting for potential hot flash predictors (e.g., smoking, body composition, perceived level of high stress).
The exact reason for this concerning increase is less clear, but researchers speculate that working conditions; changes in lifestyle, diet, and environment; and endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) may play a part.