New research has found that people who hit menopause early in life have a higher risk of dying young. The research added that individuals who hit menopause before the age of 40 — known as premature menopause or premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) — are twice as likely to die of a cause.
The study, due to be presented by the researchers at the European Congress of Endocrinology at the Stockholm International Fairs in Stockholm, also showed that individuals with Premature Ovarian Insufficiency (POI) are also more than four times more likely to die from cancer.
What is Menopause?
Menopause is a natural biological process that marks the end of a female’s reproductive years. This is triggered by the reduction in the production of hormones like estrogen and progesterone by the ovaries.
The majority of people who experience menstruation undergo menopause between around ages 45 to 55, with only about 1 percent seeing menopause before age 40.
What does it mean?
In the new study, the researchers from the University of Oulu and Oulu University Hospital analysed data from nearly 6,000 Finnish women with POI between 1988 and 2017 and compared them to more than 22,000 women without the condition.
They found that people with spontaneously developed POI were twice as likely to die young from heart disease and any other reason. They were also four times more likely to die young of cancer. These effects were not observed in women who had surgically triggered POI.
“To our knowledge, this is the largest study performed on the linkage between premature ovarian insufficiency and mortality risk,” study co-author Hilla Haapakoski, a Ph.D. student at the University of Oulu in Finland, said in a statement.
In past, research has found similar patterns of increased mortality risk in women with POI. But this is the first time that a study has tapped on the trend on such a large scale.
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“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 hormone replacement therapy for over six months may reduce mortality risk,” Haapakoski said. “Our findings suggest specific attention should be paid to the health of women with spontaneous premature ovarian insufficiency to decrease excess mortality.”
(With inputs from agencies)