Early menopause ‘heart disease risk’

Women who go through early menopause are at higher risk of heart disease and stroke, research has shown.

A study led by the University of Oxford also found a link between starting periods early, pregnancy complications and hysterectomy with cardiovascular disease.

WOMEN WHO go through early menopause are at higher risk of heart disease and stroke, research has shown.

A study led by the University of Oxford also found a link between starting periods early, pregnancy complications and hysterectomy with cardiovascular disease.

Women who went through the menopause before the age of 47 had a 33 per cent heightened risk of cardiovascular disease, rising to 42 per cent for their risk of stroke, they found.

Those who began having periods before the age of 12 were at ten per cent greater risk of cardiovascular disease than those who had been 13 or older when they started, the study said.

Previous miscarriages were associated with a higher risk of heart disease, with each miscarriage increasing the risk by six per cent.

And having a stillbirth was associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease in general (22 per cent) and of stroke in particular (44 per cent).

The study, which is published in the journal Heart, found having a hysterectomy was linked to a heightened risk of cardiovascular disease (12 per cent) and of heart disease (20 per cent).

And those whose ovaries had been removed before a hysterectomy were twice as likely to develop cardiovascular disease as those who had not had these procedures.

Cardiovascular disease, a general term for conditions affecting the heart or blood vessels, remains the leading cause of death and disability both in the UK and worldwide in both men and women, but it can often largely be prevented with a healthy lifestyle.

Scientists said previous research has suggested that certain reproductive risk factors may be linked to an increased risk of heart disease or stroke, but the findings have been mixed.

For their study, the team drew on data from the UK Biobank, a large population-based study of more than half a million men and women up to the age of 69, who were recruited between 2006 and 2010.

In all, the health of 267,440 women and 215,088 men – none of whom had cardiovascular disease when they entered the study – was tracked up to March 2016 or until they had their first heart attack or stroke, if this happened before then.

Analysis of the data showed that after taking account of potentially influential factors, women who had started having periods before the age of 12 were at ten per cent greater risk of cardiovascular disease than those who had been 13 or older when they started.

Young age at first parenthood seemed to be another risk factor, with each additional year of age lessening the risk of cardiovascular disease by about three per cent.

But the association between the number of children and cardiovascular disease was similar for men and women, suggesting that the social, psychological and behavioural issues associated with bringing up children may be more important than biological factors.

The team, which was led by Dr Sanne Peters of the George Institute for Global Health at the University of Oxford, said theirs was an observational study, so no firm conclusions can be drawn about cause and effect.

“This large prospective study found that early menarche, early menopause, earlier age at first birth and a history of miscarriage, stillbirth or hysterectomy were each associated with a higher risk of CVD in later life, after controlling for key cardiovascular risk factors,” they said.

This study found conditions linked with a higher risk of CVD. Scientists from the University of Oxford.