Age at menopause in relation to reproductive history in Japanese, Caucasian, Chinese and Hawaiian women living in Hawaii

Abstract

A multiple regression analysis was undertaken to examine the relationship between age at menopause and selected biological and sociological variables in the reproductive history of Caucasian, Japanese, Chinese and part-Hawaiian post-menopausal women living in Hawaii. The analysis was conducted using the medical history records of 196 Caucasian, 181 Japanese, 72 Chinese and 60 Hawaiian women. Age at menarche, parity and months spent breast-feeding were found to have no significant effect on age at menopause. Regression models were not found to be heterogeneous among ethnic groups and no substantial interaction of ethnic group was found with age at menarche, parity or months spent breast-feeding.

PIP: The age at natural menopause for Caucasian, Japanese, Chinese and part-Hawaiian women living in Hawaii was investigated. A multiple regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between age at menopause and selected biological and sociological variables. Of the first 5000 women undergoing breast cancer screening in the State of Hawaii at the Breast Cancer Screening Demonstration Project in the Pacific Health Research Institute in Honolulu in 1974-1975, 509 were selected for the study sample. The analysis was conducted using the medical history records of 196 Caucasian, 181 Japanese, 72 Chinese and 60 Hawaiian women. No significant relationship was found between age at menopause and age at menarche, parity, and months spent breastfeeding. Regression models were not found to be heterogeneous among the ethnic groups. No substantial interaction of ethnic group was found with age at menarche, parity or months spent breastfeeding. The notable finding was the lack of heterogeneity among ethnic groups for age at natural menopause and the lack of relationship between age at menopause and variables relating to the reproductive period.