FRIDAY, Oct. 26, 2018 (HealthDay News) -- Compared with women who experience normal or late menopause, women who experience early natural menopause have a shorter life expectancy and spend fewer years without type 2 diabetes (T2D), according to a study published online Oct. 8 in Menopause.
Eralda Asllanaj, M.D., D.Sc., from Erasmus University Medical Center in the Netherlands, and colleagues conducted a prospective population-based cohort study involving 3,650 postmenopausal women aged 45+ years to examine the correlation of early menopause and diabetes with life expectancy. Menopause was defined as early (≤44 years), normal (45 to 54 years), and late (≥55 years).
The researchers found that the difference in life expectancy for women who experienced early menopause compared with late menopause was −3.5 years overall and −4.6 years without diabetes. The difference in life expectancy for women who experienced early menopause versus normal menopause age was −3.1 years overall and −3.3 years without diabetes.
"Future studies are needed to examine the mechanisms behind the association of age at natural menopause with T2D and mortality to tailor prevention and treatment strategies to improve women's health across all age categories of menopause," the authors write.
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