Premature menopause or early menopause: Long-term health consequences

Shuster, Lynne T.; Rhodes, Deborah J.; Gostout, Bobbie S.; Grossardt, Brandon R.; Rocca, Walter A.

doi:10.1016/j.maturitas.2009.08.003

« Previous Next »Maturitas
Volume 65, Issue 2 , Pages 161-166, February 2010

Premature menopause or early menopause: Long-term health consequences

Lynne T. Shuster
- Womens Health Clinic, Department of Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905, USA
- Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 507 538 7904; fax: +1 507 538 8317.
Deborah J. Rhodes
- Division of Preventive and Occupational Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905, USA
Bobbie S. Gostout
- Division of Gynecologic Surgery, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905, USA
Brandon R. Grossardt
- Division of Biomedical Statistics and Informatics, Department of Health Sciences Research, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905, USA
Walter A. Rocca
- Division of Epidemiology, Department of Health Sciences Research, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905, USA
- Department of Neurology, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905, USA

Received 6 July 2009; received in revised form 31 July 2009; accepted 9 August 2009. published online 28 August 2009.

Abstract

Objective

To review and summarize current evidence on the health consequences of premature menopause and early menopause.

Methods

We reviewed existing literature and combined graphically some results from the Mayo Clinic Cohort Study of Oophorectomy and Aging.

Results

Premature menopause or early menopause may be either spontaneous or induced. Women who experience premature menopause (before age 40 years) or early menopause (between ages 40 and 45 years) experience an increased risk of overall mortality, cardiovascular diseases, neurological diseases, psychiatric diseases, osteoporosis, and other sequelae. The risk of adverse outcomes increases with earlier age at the time of menopause. Some of the adverse outcomes may be prevented by estrogen treatment initiated after the onset of menopause. However, estrogen alone does not prevent all long-term consequences, and other hormonal mechanisms are likely involved.

Conclusions

Regardless of the cause, women who experience hormonal menopause and estrogen deficiency before reaching the median age of natural menopause are at increased risk for morbidity and mortality. Estrogen treatment should be considered for these women, but may not eliminate all of the adverse outcomes.

Keywords: Premature menopause, Early menopause, Estrogen, Bilateral oophorectomy, Mortality, Morbidity