Menopausal age and cardiovascular disease risk in American women: evidence from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

Abstract

Objective

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a significant contributor to the deaths of females, and premature menopause adds to the risk of CVD in females. Therefore, our study aimed to investigate the age of menopause and CVD incidence in American females using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).

Method

We analyzed data from 6347 females to investigate the association between menopausal age and the risk of CVD using multivariate logistic regression analysis.

Results

The study found that a later menopausal age reduces the risk of developing CVD (odds ratio [OR] = 0.74, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.63 − 0.88, p < 0.001). Moreover, females with early-onset CVD had an increased risk of premature menopause before the age of 40 years (OR = 2.44, 95% CI = 1.60 − 3.72, p < 0.001).

Conclusion

Menopausal age is associated with the risk of developing CVD in American females. Specifically, if menopause occurs earlier, there is an increased risk of CVD. Additionally, early-onset CVD significantly raises the risk of premature menopause, which in turn has important implications for female reproductive health.

摘要

目的: 心血管疾病(CVD)是女性死亡的重要原因, 而早绝经增加了女性患CVD的风险。因此, 我们的研究旨在利用国家健康与营养调查(NHANES)的数据, 调查美国女性绝经年龄与CVD发病率之间的关系。

方法: 我们分析了6347名女性的数据, 利用多变量 logistic 回归分析探讨绝经年龄与CVD风险的关联。

结果: 研究发现, 绝经年龄越晚, 发生CVD的风险越低(比值比[OR] = 0.74, 95%置信区间[CI] = 0.63 − 0.88, p < 0.001)。而且, 早发CVD的女性在40岁之前发生早绝经的风险更高(OR = 2.44, 95%CI= 1.60 − 3.72, p < 0.001)。

结论: 美国女性绝经年龄与患CVD的风险相关。具体来说, 如果绝经发生较早, 患CVD的风险增加。此外, 早发CVD显著增加了早绝经的风险, 这对女性生殖健康具有重要意义。

Keywords:

• Menopause
• cardiovascular disease
• National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
• cross-sectional study

Ethics approval

This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Approval was granted by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) Research Ethics Review Board.

Potential conflict of interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

All data are publicly available from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) NHANES database (https://wwwn.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes/Default.aspx).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant No. 82004276]; Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province [Grant No. 2019WS553].