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. 2023 Nov 1;30(11):1085-1089.
doi: 10.1097/GME.0000000000002249. Epub 2023 Aug 29.

Associations between childhood adversity and age at natural menopause

Juliana M Kling, Mariam Saadedine, Stephanie S Faubion, Chrisandra L Shufelt, Kristin C Mara  1 , Felicity T Enders  1 , Paru S David  2 , Ekta Kapoor
Affiliations

Associations between childhood adversity and age at natural menopause

Juliana M Kling et al. Menopause. .

Abstract

Objective: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are reported in more than half of the women in the United States and have been shown to negatively impact the menopause experience. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association between ACEs and age at natural menopause.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study conducted among participants of the Data Registry on the Experiences of Aging, Menopause, and Sexuality (DREAMS). The registry included women who were seen for consultations in the women's health clinic at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, between May 2015 and December 2016. Only postmenopausal women were included in this analysis. Childhood adversity was assessed with the validated ACE questionnaire. Age at natural menopause was self-reported. The association between ACEs and age at menopause was evaluated using a multivariable linear regression model adjusting for multiple confounders.

Results: A total of 350 women were evaluated. The mean age was 59.2 years, and a majority were White (92.9%), married/partnered (82%), and educated (91.2% with at least some college education). Women with a history of at least four ACEs were estimated to reach natural menopause 1.3 years sooner than women with no ACE in multivariable analysis, but the results were not statistically significant (95% confidence interval, -3.2 to 0.6; P = 0.18).

Conclusions: Although stressful life experiences such as ACEs may negatively influence health for midlife women, this study did not find an association with the age at natural menopause.

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Conflict of interest statement

Financial disclosures/conflicts of interest: J.M.K. was a past consultant for Kindra with Proctor and Gamble and Triangle Insights group, and is a medical editor for Everyday health. M.S., C.S., and K.M. have nothing to disclose. S.F. is primed for CME lecture and Clinical Overviews (online educational content), and has received fellowship fees from Atria Academy of Science and Medicine. F.E. has received grant support from the National Institutes of Health and the Agency for Healthcare Quality Research. P.D. is a speaker for Med IQ. E.K. has no conflicts of interest directly related to the subject of this article. Over the past 36 months, she, however, has had the following conflicts of interest: She has been a consultant for Astellas and Mithra Pharmaceuticals, Scynexis, and Womaness. She receives grant support from Mithra Pharmaceuticals. She has received payment for development of educational content from Med Learning Group and Academy of Continued Healthcare Learning. She has received honoraria for CME activity from CogniMed, PriMed, and OBG Management.

References

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