Women who start menopause before 40 more likely to die young, study finds

Woman looking ill

Women who start the menopause before the age of 40 are more likely to die young, new research suggests.

Most women experience menopause between the ages of 45 and 55.

But around one in 100 go through menopause before the age of 40, which is known as premature menopause or premature ovarian insufficiency (POI).

Scientists said women can lower the risk associated with early menopause with hormone therapy, however.

The long-term Finnish study is the largest conducted on the association between premature menopause and mortality.

Findings highlight importance of check-ups

Researchers say their findings highlight the importance of regular medical check-ups and appropriate hormone therapy use in those affected.

Previous research has shown that women who go through the menopause early are at greater risk of long-term health problems such as heart disease.

Scientists say the cause of POI is largely unknown, but can be brought on spontaneously or by some medical treatments such as chemotherapy or by surgically removing the ovaries.

Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is the most common treatment, but the majority of women who go through premature menopause do not take those drugs in accordance with recommendations.

For the new study, researchers from the University of Oulu and Oulu University Hospital examined more than 5,800 women who were diagnosed with spontaneous or surgical premature ovarian insufficiency in Finland between 1988 and 2017.

They compared those women with almost 23,000 others who did not go through POI.

Risk halved by six months of HRT

They found that women with spontaneous premature ovarian insufficiency were more than twice as likely to die of any cause or of heart disease, and more than four times as likely to die of cancer.

But the risk of any cause and cancer mortality roughly halved in women who used HRT for more than six months.

Women who went through premature menopause as a result of surgery did not have any added risk of dying young.

Previous studies have also shown that women with premature menopause have a higher risk of early death, but that association had never been studied in women on such a large scale before and followed for up to 30 years.

Hilla Haapakoski, the study leader, said: “To our knowledge, this is the largest study performed on the linkage between premature ovarian insufficiency and mortality risk.

“Our study is one of the first to explore both surgical and spontaneous premature ovarian insufficiency in women’s all-cause, cardiovascular and cancer-related mortality, and examine whether HRT for over six months may reduce mortality risk.

“Our findings suggest specific attention should be paid to the health of women with spontaneous premature ovarian insufficiency to decrease excess mortality.”

Health dangers ‘not well recognised’

The researchers now plan to assess whether women with premature menopause are more likely to have other illnesses or conditions, such as cancer or heart disease, and whether long-term use of HRT affects those conditions.

Ms Haapakoski, a PhD student at the University of Oulu, said: “Various health risks of women with premature ovarian insufficiency have not been well recognised and the use of HRT is often neglected.”

She added: “We hope to improve the health of these women by increasing awareness of the risks among healthcare professionals and the women themselves.”

The findings are due to be presented at the European Congress of Endocrinology in Stockholm, Sweden, on Sunday.

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