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During late perimenopause and the postmenopausal years, most women experience vasomotor symptoms (hot flashes and night sweats) resulting in overall impairment in quality of life. These symptoms respond to estrogen treatment; moreover, endogenous estrogen levels increase with adiposity. Conventional wisdom has held that vasomotor symptoms are more common in slender women than in overweight or obese women; however, this assumption has not been supported by data published during the last 12 years. As part of the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation, investigators used bioelectric impedance analysis to measure adiposity in an ethnically diverse cohort of women (age range at baseline, 42–52) with intact uteri, at least one ovary, and no cu…