Women who already have elevated levels of cholesterol, blood pressure, or weight at the age of 43 start menopause sooner than women who do not.
Until now it was thought that post-menopausal women were more at risk of cardiovascular disease because of low estrogen levels. Research done at UMC Utrecht suggests the opposite: that women who are more at risk of cardiovascular disease start menopause sooner. This is in keeping with recent reports that, after menopause, estrogen does not appear to have any protective function. The study will be published on May 16, 2006 in The Journal of the American College of Cardiologists (JACC).
The study analyzed the data of 695 menopausal women. The 514 women with an elevated cholesterol level started menopause sooner than the women whose cholesterol level remained the same, while the 94 women with a lowered cholesterol level started menopause later than the women with a stable cholesterol level. In 87 of the women, the cholesterol level remained the same during the years before menopause. The other risk factors showed a similar pattern. Because this is the first time the relationship between cardiovascular risk factors before menopause and age of menopause have been examined, follow-up studies are required. This has emerged from a study by the Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, the Department of Biomedical Genetics, and the Department of Reproductive Medicine at UMC Utrecht.
The Julius Center carried out the study using data from the well-known American Framingham Heart Study. Since 1948, those participating in this study are given a thorough physical examination every two years, which includes blood draws and questions about menstruation patterns.