Dec 18, 2014 05:03 PM EST By J Baulkman, UniversityHerald Reporter

Women who experience moderate to severe hot flashes during menopause are more likely to have issues bone health and higher rates of hip fracture than those who do not have menopause symptoms, according to a recent study from the University of California-Los Angeles.

Menopause is the life stage when a woman's ovaries stop producing hormones and her menstrual periods stop. About 60 percent of women experience hot flashes, which can last for several years. Postmenopausal women face a greater risk of developing osteoporosis, a condition in which bones become structurally weak and more likely to break, than either younger women or men.

"Our findings suggest women who exhibit moderate or severe menopausal symptoms are more likely to have issues with bone health than their peers," Carolyn J. Crandall, one of the study authors, said in a statement. "This is the first large cohort study to examine the relationship between menopausal symptoms and bone health in menopausal women."

For the study, researchers examined data from more than 23,000 participants in the Women's Health Initiative Clinical Trial. The participants were women between the ages of 50 and 79. The study, which was conducted at 40 clinical centers across the country, tracked women's annual visits for 8 years, on average.

Participants asked about their menopausal symptoms, including hot flashes and night sweats, during the initial visit. WHI participants then were monitored for fractures during the follow-up period. Among the participants, 4,867 had their bone mineral density measured as part of a sub-study.

They found that women who reported having moderate or severe hot flashes when they entered the study were more likely to fracture a hip during the follow-up period than women who had no menopausal symptoms. After researchers adjusted for age, body mass index and demographic factors, they found women who had moderate to severe menopausal symptoms had lower bone mass density at the neck and spine during the follow-up period than women with no symptoms.

However, more research is needed to illuminate the connection between bone health and menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes.

The findings are detailed in the Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

See Now: Covert Team Inside Newsweek Revealed as Key Players in False Human Trafficking Lawsuit