Changes in the length of the menstrual cycle before menopause can predict the risk of heart disease

As women approach menopause, their menstrual cycles tend to get longer

The study published today in the journal Menopause describes the changes in cycle length during menopausal transition and found that women whose cycle length increased two years before the last menstruation had better cycles than those who had a stable cycle length during the menopausal transition.

Dr.

The average duration of a menstrual cycle is about 28 days, but this varies greatly between different women

El Khoudary and her team wanted to know whether changes in cycle length during menopausal transitions can also predict future cardiovascular health

The researchers noticed that during the menopausal transition period, the menstrual cycle has three different trajectories

Compared with women with stable cycles, women in the late increase group had more favorable measurements in terms of arterial stiffness and thickness, indicating a lower risk of cardiovascular disease

"These findings are important because they show that we cannot think of women as a group: women have different menstrual cycle trajectories during menopausal transition, and this trajectory seems to be a sign of vascular health," El Khoudary said

The researchers hypothesized that the menstrual cycle trajectory during menopause reflects hormone levels, which in turn contributes to cardiovascular health

According to El Khoudary, it is unclear why participants with stable cycles have a higher risk of cardiovascular disease than participants with later cycles

El Khoudary also wants to study whether menstrual cycle patterns are related to other cardiovascular risk factors, such as abdominal fat.

DOI

10.

Article title

Patterns of menstrual cycle length over the menopause transition are associated with subclinical atherosclerosis after menopause