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Night sweats or nocturnal hyperhidrosis is the repeated occurrence of excessive sweating during sleep. The person may or may not also perspire excessively while awake.

One of the most common causes of night sweats in women over 40 is the hormonal changes related to menopause and perimenopause. This is a very common occurrence during the menopausal transition years. Over 80% of women experience hot flashes, which may include excessive sweating, during menopause.

Night sweats range from being relatively harmless to a sign of underlying disease. Night sweats may happen because the sleep environment is too warm, either because the bedroom is unusually hot or because there are too many covers on the bed. Night sweats have been associated with a long list of clinical conditions. However, there is very little evidence that supports clinical recommendations for this condition.

Associated conditions

The condition may be a sign of various disease states, including but not exclusive to the following:

• Cancers
  • Lymphoma
  • Leukemia
  • Renal cell carcinoma
• Infections
  • HIV/AIDS
  • Tuberculosis
  • Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare infection
  • Infectious mononucleosis
  • Fungal infections (histoplasmosis, coccidioidomycosis)
  • Lung abscess
  • Infective endocarditis
  • Brucellosis
  • Pneumocystis pneumonia (most often – in immunocompromised individuals)
  • Omicron variant of COVID-19
• Endocrine disorders
  • Premature ovarian failure
  • Hyperthyroidism
  • Diabetes mellitus (nocturnal hypoglycemia)
  • Endocrine tumors (pheochromocytoma, carcinoid)
  • Orchiectomy
• Rheumatic disorders
  • Takayasu's arteritis
  • Temporal arteritis
  • Ankylosing spondylitis
• Other
  • Obstructive sleep apnea
  • Gastroesophageal reflux disease
  • Chronic fatigue syndrome
  • Fibromyalgia
  • Granulomatous disease
  • Chronic eosinophilic pneumonia
  • Lymphoid hyperplasia
  • Diabetes insipidus
  • Prinzmetal's angina
  • Anxiety
  • Pregnancy
  • Menopause
• Drugs
  • Antipyretics (salicylates, acetaminophen)
  • Antihypertensives
  • Anabolic–androgenic steroids, in particular trenbolone, and the nandrolones
  • Dinitrophenol – a common side effect
  • Phenothiazines
  • Drug withdrawal: ethanol, benzodiazepines, cannabis, heroin (and other opioids),
• Over-bundling
• Autonomic over-activity
• Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) – Crohn's disease/ulcerative colitis

References

1. "Hyperhidrosis - MeSH - NCBI". www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
2. ^ "Night sweats - Mayo Clinic". www.mayoclinic.org. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
3. T. F. Kruger; M. H. Botha (2008). Clinical Gynaecology. Juta and Company Ltd. p. 333. ISBN 978-0-7021-7305-9.
4. Bansal, Ramandeep; Aggarwal, Neelam (January–March 2019). "Menopausal Hot Flashes: A Concise Review". Journal of Mid-Life Health. 10 (1): 6–13. doi:10.4103/jmh.JMH_7_19. ISSN 0976-7800. PMC 6459071. PMID 31001050.
5. ^ Mold, James W.; Holtzclaw, Barbara J.; McCarthy, Laine (November–December 2012). "Night sweats: a systematic review of the literature". Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine. 25 (6): 878–893. doi:10.3122/jabfm.2012.06.120033. ISSN 1558-7118. PMID 23136329. S2CID 24179827.
6. ^ Viera, Anthony J.; Bond, Michael M.; Yates, Scott W. (1 March 2003). "Diagnosing Night Sweats". American Family Physician. 67 (5): 1019–1024. PMID 12643362. Retrieved 13 June 2012.
7. ^ Jonathan E. Teitelbaum; Kathleen O. DeAntonis; Scott Kahan (2004). In a page: Pediatric signs & symptoms. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. p. 6. ISBN 978-1-4051-0427-2.
8. Curti, B; Jana, BRP; Javeed, M; Makhoul, I; Sachdeva, K; Hu, W; Perry, M; Talavera, F (26 February 2014). Harris, JE (ed.). "Renal Cell Carcinoma". Medscape Reference. WebMD. Archived from the original on 7 March 2014. Retrieved 7 March 2014.
9. Tao Le; Vikas Bhushan (2006). First Aid for the USMLE Step 2 CS. McGraw-Hill Professional. p. 74. ISBN 978-0-07-147058-2.
10. "Night sweats : Causes". Mayo Clinic. 22 March 2011. Retrieved 10 May 2012.
11. Khan, Dr Amir (20 December 2021). "Omicron is more transmissible, but is it really milder?". Aljazeera. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
12. Quann, Jack (7 July 2022). "Luke O'Neill: Night sweats now a sign of BA.5 COVID variant". Newstalk. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
13. Deecher, D. C.; K. Dorries (2007). "Understanding the pathophysiology of vasomotor symptoms (hot flushes and night sweats) that occur in perimenopause, menopause, and postmenopause life stages". Archives of Women's Mental Health. 10 (6): 247–257. doi:10.1007/s00737-007-0209-5. PMID 18074100. S2CID 21865706.

External links

• Sleep disorders
• Medical signs
• Menopause