Type and Timing of Menopause and Later Life Survival among Women in the Iowa EPESE Cohort

Sarah E. Tom, National Institute on Aging
Rachel Cooper, MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing
Robert Wallace, University of Iowa
Jack Guralnik, National Institute on Aging (NIA), NIH

Few empirical studies have tested the hypothesis that early menopause indicates a faster rate of overall biological aging. Using the Iowa cohort of the Established Populations for the Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly, we examined the relationships between age at and type of menopause and mortality among 1684 women aged 65 and over at baseline. Follow-up continued for 24 years. After adjusting for age, educational attainment, number of pregnancies, age at menarche, smoking, body mass index, and use of estrogen therapy, there were no all-cause or cardiovascular mortality differentials relating to age at menopause. There was a small but statistically insignificant increase in mortality for women with surgical menopause compared to women with natural menopause for all cause and non-cardiovascular mortality. Because of the older age at baseline, use of a rural sample, and differences in use of hysterectomy over the past 40 years, results should be interpreted with caution.