Revealed: Heart failure linked to early menopause
AN early menopause and never giving birth both increase a woman’s risk of heart failure, a study reveals.
A study found early menopause and never giving birth increase a woman's risk of heart failure
The association is thought to be linked to the way sex hormone levels are affected by menstruation and pregnancy.
More than a decade after 28,519 women had experienced the menopause, an analysis revealed 5.2 per cent of them had been admitted to hospital with heart failure.
It is thought to be linked to the way sex hormone levels are affected by menstruation and pregnancy
Early menopause, which occurs when a woman reaches the end of her reproductive age unusually soon, correlated with a “statistically significant” increased risk of the condition – with the heart too weak to pump blood efficiently.
The association was more pronounced when an early menopause occurred naturally rather than as a result of surgical removal of the ovaries, found the Women’s Health Initiative study in the US.
The study was conducted by the Women's Health Initiative in the US
Women who never gave birth were also found to be more at risk of diastolic heart failure, a problem affecting the left side of the heart.
The findings were published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Lead researcher Dr Nisha Parikh, from the University of California at San Francisco, said: “Our finding that a shorter total reproductive duration was associated with a modestly increased risk of heart failure might be due to the increased coronary heart disease risk that accompanies early menopause.”