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Abstract
The clinical features of the menopause and the influence of the length of pregnancies
and lactation on the age of menopause and on the incidence of hot flushes were studied
in 154 women aged 50–85 yr. The mean age at menopause was 46.6 ± 4.7 SD yr. The cessation
of menses occurred abruptly in 43.5% of the cases or after a period of menstrual irregularities
(56.4% of the cases). The prevalent abnormalities were oligomenorrhea (45.4%) or functional
bleeding (10.4%), both of short duration in the majority of the cases. Hot flushes
were experienced more frequently (68.9%) in women with menstrual irregularities before
the onset of menopause and especially those who presented an oligo-menorrhea (71.4%)
than in women with abrupt cessation of menses (41.7%). The length of pregnancies did
not seem to influence the age at menopause. The mean age at menopause in 17 nulligravida
women was 46.5 yr and did not differ significantly from the mean age at menopause
of women with 1–19, 20–39, 40–59 and 60–110 mth of pregnancies. The duration of pregnancies,
however, seemed to influence the incidence of hot flushes. Women with more than 20
mth of pregnancy had a significantly smaller incidence of hot flushes than nulligravida
or women with 1–19 mth of pregnancy.
The length of lactation was also not correlated with the age at menopause. Finally,
the age of last pregnancy was not found to be related with the menopause or the incidence
of hot flushes.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
December 19,
1978
Received:
October 9,
1978
Identification
Copyright
© 1979 Published by Elsevier Inc.
