Menopause and myocardial infarction risk among employed women in relation to work and family psychosocial factors in Lithuania

Abstract 

Objectives

To assess the relationship between menopause and age at menopause and the risk of the first non-fatal myocardial infarction taking into account the possible influence of psychosocial job characteristics, marital stress, level of social support, educational level, occupation, age and traditional ischemic heart disease risk factors.

Methods

Population-based case–control study among 35–61 years old employed women in Kaunas, Lithuania. Totally 122 myocardial infarction cases and 371 controls were interviewed in 2001–2004. The logistic regression analysis was performed.

Results

Younger age at menopause (≤40 years) showed a tendency for increased myocardial infarction risk (OR=1.78; 95% CI 0.39–8.07) after adjustments for age, smoking, arterial blood pressure and body mass index. However further adjustment for job demands, job control, social support, marital stress, education level, occupation decreased the risk (OR=1.16; 95% CI 0.27–5.01). In the fully adjusted model OR for postmenopausal women was 1.15; 95% CI 0.48–2.75. The association between low job control and myocardial infarction showed step increase, women in the lowest quartile of job control had the highest myocardial infarction risk (OR=4.51; 95% CI 1.90–10.75), while those in the second and third quartiles showed modest risk. Marital stress was an independent myocardial infarction risk factor for employed women (adjusted OR=2.36; 95% CI 1.07–5.19).

Conclusions

Menopausal status and younger age at menopause showed only a tendency for increase in myocardial infarction risk among the employed women in Kaunas, Lithuania. Adverse psychosocial job characteristics as low job control, as well as marital stress play more important role in the development of the first myocardial infarction.

Keywords: Myocardial infarction, Menopause, Risk factors, Psychosocial, Age, Women