In a new analysis of a multiethnic population, early menopause
has been shown to be associated with an increased risk of
cardiovascular disease and stroke. The study, in the October
issue of Menopause, looked at 2,509 white, Chinese, black and
Hispanic women ages 45 to 84. All were healthy at the start of
the study, and researchers followed them for an average of about
five years. The 693 women who reported reaching menopause,
naturally or surgically, at 46 or younger had about twice the
risk for stroke or heart disease compared with those who reached
menopause at an older age, the researchers found. The authors
controlled for many factors but acknowledged that their study
depended on self-reports of the age of menopause, which are not
always accurate. The lead author, Dr. Melissa Wellons, an
assistant professor of endocrinology at Vanderbilt who did the
work when she was at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, said
the mechanism was unclear. It is possible that certain factors,
genetic or otherwise, contri