But no apparent association with stroke risk
THURSDAY, Sept. 15, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Women who enter menopause early may be at greater risk for cardiovascular disease and premature death, according to a review published online Sept. 14 in JAMA Cardiology.
Taulant Muka, M.D., Ph.D., of the Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and colleagues reviewed 32 studies involving 310,329 women. The investigators compared women who were younger than 45 at the start of menopause with those who were aged 45 and older when it began.
Overall, cardiovascular disease risk appeared to be 50 percent greater for the women who were under 45 when menopause began. Early menopause also appeared to increase risk of cardiovascular death and death from all causes. There was no apparent association with stroke risk.
While early menopausal women faced increased cardiovascular and premature death risks, women aged 50 to 54 at the onset had a lower risk of fatal cardiovascular disease than women younger than 50. Based on the findings, “age at menopause might be a predictor of future cardiovascular events and mortality in postmenopausal women,” Muka told HealthDay.
The study was sponsored and funded by Metagenics, a California-based maker of nutritional supplements.
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