title: Age at natural menopause and total mortality and mortality from ischemic heart disease: the Adventist Health Study.
abstract: We studied the relationship between age at natural menopause and total mortality as well as mortality from ischemic heart disease in a cohort of 6182 California Seventh-Day Adventist women who reported a natural menopause. During follow-up from 1976 through 1988, there were 1831 deaths. A total of 308 deaths due to ischemic heart disease occurred in women who denied ischemic heart disease at start of follow-up. An early menopause was associated with increased total mortality (P value for linear trend <0.001) and ischemic heart disease mortality (P value for linear trend = 0.03). This relationship could not be explained by possible confounding variables. Our results support the hypothesis that an early natural menopause (35-40 years old) increases the risk of ischemic heart disease. There is, however, also some evidence of increased risk of ischemic heart disease in women with a very late menopause (>55 years), particularly in women who never have used postmenopausal estrogens.
authors.affiliation: Center for Health Research and Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Loma Linda University, California, USA.
authors.forename: B K
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Jacobsen
authors.forename: S F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Knutsen
authors.forename: G E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Fraser
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015986:Confounding Factors, Epidemiologic; D015914:Estrogen Replacement Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008593:Menopause; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality; D017202:Myocardial Ischemia / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality* / Q000517:prevention & control; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires