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Surgical menopause, early age at onset linked to worse physical functioning later in life
Tom SE. Menopause. 2012:19:283-289.
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Researchers have determined that women who elect to have surgical menopause or who experience menopause earlier in life tend to have worse physical function in older adulthood, according to results from a cross-sectional study.
“These groups of women may benefit from interventions to prevent functional decline,” the researchers said.
They evaluated 1,765 women aged 60 years or older who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III.
Information was obtained from the participants, such as age at final menstrual period; age at removal of the uterus and ovaries; and reported age, race and ethnicity, height, weight, educational status, smoking status, number of children and use of estrogen therapy.
Next, the participants completed a walk trial and chair rises and reported any limitations in mobility they experienced. Chair rise times were an average of 4.4% slower among those who had undergone surgical menopause vs. those who had natural menopause. As for walking speed, women with natural menopause occurring at age 55 years or older had an average walking speed of 0.05 m/second faster compared with those who underwent natural menopause at age 45 years or younger.
Functional limitation was more common in women with surgical menopause at age 55 years or older compared with women with surgical menopause at age younger than 40 years.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.