Efforts need to be made to find new ways of helping women with frequent hot flushes.

The menopause could last for around 12 years, and is likely to affect women of certain races for longer than others, research suggests.

Women suffer from frequent hot flushes and other symptoms, such as night sweats, for an average of around seven years, a major US study has found.

It also revealed that for some, the symptoms lasted up to 11.8 years – far longer than originally thought.

Researchers discovered that the earlier women started experiencing menopausal symptoms – some while they were still menstruating – the longer they lasted.

For women who were post-menopausal when the hot flushes and other menopausal vasomotor symptoms (VMS) kicked in, they lasted on average for 3.4 years.

African American women reported the longest total VMS duration, compared to other races.

Japanese and Chinese women had the shortest with 4.8 years and 5.4 years, respectively.

The median total VMS durations were 6.5 years for non-Hispanic white women and 8.9 years for Hispanic women, according to the results.

In this latest study, published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, researchers analysed 17 years of data from 1,449 women. They each had frequent VMS, meaning they had suffered hot flushes or night sweats on at least six days in the previous fortnight.

In light of their findings, the scientists said that efforts needed to be made to find new ways of helping women with the transition.

The study found that the average length of time that women endures symptoms was 7.4 years.

Nancy Avis, the study’s lead author from the Wake Forest School of Medicine, in North Carolina, said: “These findings can help healthcare professionals counsel patients about expectations regarding VMS and assist women in making treatment decisions based on the probability of their VMS persisting.

“In addition, the median total VMS duration of 7.4 years highlights the limitations of guidance recommending short-term HT (hormone therapy) use and emphasises the need to identify safe long-term therapies for the treatment of VMS.”

The researchers also found that women who suffered from the longer duration of VMS tended to be younger, had achieved less educationally, had greater perceived stress and higher levels of depression and anxiety.