Dietary patterns and age at natural menopause: Evidence from the UK Women's Cohort Study

Associations of reproductive factors with incidence of myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke in postmenopausal women: a cohort study

BACKGROUND

To assess the association between the reproductive factors of age at menarche, age at menopause, and reproductive span and the incidence of myocardial infarction (MI) and ischemic stroke (IS).

METHODS

We used a population-based retrospective cohort study from the National Health Insurance Service database of Korea including a total of 1,224,547 postmenopausal women. Associations between age at menarche (≤ 12, 13-14 [reference], 15, 16, and ≥ 17 years), age at menopause (< 40, 40-45, 46-50, 51-54 [reference], and ≥ 55 years), and reproductive span (< 30, 30-33, 34-36, 37-40 [reference], and ≥ 41 years) and the incidence of MI and IS were assessed by Cox proportional hazard models with adjustment for traditional cardiovascular risk factors and various reproductive factors.

RESULTS

During a median follow-up of 8.4 years, 25,181 MI and 38,996 IS cases were identified. Late menarche (≥ 16 years), early menopause (≤ 50 years), and short reproductive span (≤ 36 years) were linearly associated with a 6%, 12-40%, and 12-32% higher risk of MI, respectively. Meanwhile, a U-shaped association between age at menarche and risk of IS was found, with a 16% higher risk in early menarche (≤ 12 years) and a 7-9% higher risk in late menarche (≥ 16 years). Short reproductive span was linearly associated with an increased risk of MI, whereas both shorter and longer reproductive spans were associated with an increased risk of IS.

CONCLUSIONS

This study demonstrated different patterns of association between age at menarche and incidence of MI and IS: a linear association for MI versus a U-shaped association for IS. Female reproductive factors in addition to traditional cardiovascular risk factors should be considered when assessing overall cardiovascular risk in postmenopausal women.

Association of plant-based diet and early onset of natural menopause

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Menopause and cardiometabolic diseases: What we (don't) know and why it matters

This narrative review discusses the current understanding, knowledge gaps and challenges in expanding our knowledge of the association between menopause and the reproductive aging process and cardiometabolic disease (CMD) in women, with a focus on type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The physiological changes that occur at different stages of the reproductive life span, as well as type of menopause and timing, are factors widely associated with CMD risk; however, the underlying mechanisms remain either unclear or insufficiently studied. Decreased ovarian estrogen production and relative androgen excess around menopause onset are the most studied factors linking menopause and cardiometabolic health; nevertheless, the evidence is not persuasive and other hypotheses might explain the changes in CMD risk during menopausal transition. In this context, hormone therapy has been widely adopted in the treatment and prevention of CMD, although uncertainty regarding its cardiometabolic effects has raised the need to optimize therapeutic modalities. Mechanisms such as the "iron overload theory" and new "omics" platforms could provide new insights into potential pathways underlying the association between menopause and cardiometabolic health, such as the DNA damage response. Although it has been widely reported that environmental and lifestyle factors affect both menopause and cardiometabolic health, there is little evidence on the role of these exposures in menopause-associated CMD risk.