Menstrual irregularity in adolescence tied to cardiometabolic risk in early adulthood
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Key takeaways:
- Early menarche was tied to increased waist circumference in early adulthood.
- Menstrual cycle irregularity during adolescence conferred increased levels of insulin, glucose and triglycerides and higher BP.
Menstrual cycle irregularity and age at menarche were significantly associated with parameters of cardiometabolic health in early adulthood among a mostly Black cohort of young women, researchers reported.
A study that evaluated the relationship between early menarche and menses irregularity and cardiometabolic disease was published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
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“We focus on menstrual irregularities for two reasons. First, among reproductive health factors associated with cardiometabolic disease, it can be assessed early in development,” Kate E. Keenan, PhD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience at the University of Chicago, and colleagues wrote. “Second, among many potential risk factors for cardiometabolic disease such as behavioral and social determinants of health, it can be assessed within existing clinical platforms with less subjectivity, bias and burden.”
To better understand the associations between the age of onset of menses and irregular cycles and cardiometabolic health, Keenan and colleagues used data from the community-based longitudinal Pittsburgh Girls Study.
The Pittsburgh Girls Study was initiated in 1999-2000 to assess the development of behavioral and emotional problems among 2,450 girls from neighborhoods in which at least 25% of the families were living at or below the poverty level.
Data from annual interviews were used to assess age at menarche and cycle irregularity — defined as menarche before age 11 years and menses occurring greater or less than every 27 to 29 days — at age 15 years, according to the study.
The present analysis included a subset of 352 participants aged 22 to 25 years (68.2% Black) with information regarding menstrual cycle irregularity and cardiometabolic health parameters including BP, waist circumference, fasting serum insulin, glucose and lipids.
Keenan and colleagues reported that early menarche was associated with increased waist circumference (P = .043) and cycle irregularity during adolescence was associated with increased levels of insulin, glucose and triglycerides and higher systolic and diastolic BP. P values for all ranged from .035 to .005.
Moreover, women who reported menstrual cycle irregularity during adolescence were more likely to have indicators of future cardiometabolic disease in early adulthood compared with women who reported regular cycles (OR = 2.82; 96% CI, 1.62-4.91; P < .001).
“The observed association between a single assessment of cycle irregularity in adolescence and multiple measures of cardiometabolic health in early adulthood in a sample comprising mostly Black American women is compelling,” the researchers wrote. “Assessing menstrual cycle irregularity is an easily scalable tool that can be deployed in multiple health care settings to initiate further and repeated screening, and with further research may help reveal causal pathways to racial disparities in Black women’s cardiometabolic health.”
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