Smoking may cause Early menopause

Smoking can cause early menopause or death. Take your pick.


NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women who smoke are more likely to begin menopause before the age of 45 years, which puts them at increased risk of osteoporosis and heart disease, Norwegian researchers report.

Among a group of 2,123 women 59 to 60 years old, those who currently smoked were 59 percent more likely than non-smokers to have undergone early menopause, Dr. Thea F. Mikkelsen of the University of Oslo and her colleagues found. For the heaviest smokers, the risk of early menopause was nearly doubled.

However, women who were smokers, but quit at least 10 years before menopause, were substantially less likely than current smokers to have stopped menstruating before age 45.

There is evidence that smoking later in life makes a woman more likely to have early menopause, while smokers who quit before middle age may not be affected, Mikkelsen and her team note in the online journal BMC Public Health. They investigated the relationship further and determined if exposure to second-hand smoke might also influence the timing of menopause.

The researchers found that nearly 10 percent of the women went through menopause before age 45. About 25 percent were current smokers, 28.7 percent were ex-smokers and 35.2 percent reported current passive exposure to smoke.

As mentioned, the current smokers were 59 percent more likely to have reached menopause before age 45, while early menopause was nearly twice as common among the women who smoked the most.

But women who had quit smoking at least a decade before menopause were 87 percent less likely than their peers who currently smoked to have gone through menopause early.

Compared with married women, widows were also at increased risk of early menopause, as were women who said they were in poor health. More educated women were less likely to go into menopause early, but they were also less likely to be smokers.

High social participation also cut early menopause risk. The researchers found no link between coffee or alcohol consumption or passive exposure to smoke and early menopause risk.

"The earlier a woman stops smoking," Mikkelsen and her team conclude, "the more protection she derives with respect to an early onset of menopause."

SOURCE: BMC Public Health, July 7, 2007.


menstrual+cycle,women,menopause,hormones

Menopause could start at age 35

Women believe that menopause start at mid 40's. But it is not so according to this news. It could start as early as 35.

Stressful job 'hastens' menopause
Stressful working conditions may hasten the onset of the menopause, a study from France suggests.

Researchers writing in the American Journal of Epidemiology looked at 1,500 post-menopausal women.

The average menopause age of the nearly 9% who reported "high strain" work was 51 - one year earlier than what was taken as the average age of onset.

But one British fertility expert cast doubt on any relation between stress and earlier menopause.

"High-strain" jobs were categorised as those which demanded at least one of the following: the need to rush, perform several tasks at once, or frequent interruptions when working.

However the impact of these conditions was minimised when the woman in question had a high degree of control over the work she did.

Hormone theory

Some women have difficulty managing their time, the stress of which may upset the hormone balance in their bodies and "affect the ageing of the ovaries", said Dr Bernard Cassou, who led the research.

Smoking, which has long been held to have an impact upon timing of the menopause, was seen to affect onset among those who smoked more than 10 cigarettes each day.

But the chairman of the British Menopause Society said the stress angle of the study went against all the research he was aware of.

"People who want to find links do, but there's a vast body of research which shows there is no evidence of a connection between stress and the menopause," said Professor John Studd.

The menopause generally takes place between the ages of 45 and 55, but for a few women it can start as early as 35 - or as late as 60.

It occurs when levels of the female hormones oestrogen and progesterone fall and the body stops releasing eggs.

menstrual+cycle,women,menopause,hormones

Are you afraid of menopause?

For many women, menopause is scary based on the stories they have heard from their mothers, aunts and older friends.

Dr. Rebecca Singson, an ob-gyne has tips to stay healthy and sane during the menopausal stage.

This is the outline form. For the detailed ones, go to this article.

1. Visit a gynecologist annually on your birthday, to get tested for CBC, Urinalysis, Blood Chemistry Panel 23, Chest X-ray, Treadmill test, Transvaginal Ultrasound and Pap Smear, if not hysterectomized. Bilateral Mammography and Fecal Occult Blood for colon cancer screening.

2. If you started sex by 18 years old and have had five sexual partners or have had any partner who was promiscuous, have an HPV test (Human Papillomavirus ) aside from Pap Smear. The HPV test is far more accurate than a Pap Smear, which can miss cervical cancer up to 50 percent of cases.

3. Have a Bone Densitometry once in three years to detect osteoporosis.

4. If you are having hot flashes, mood swings, irritability, anxiety, depression, sleeplessness, fatigue, memory loss, low libido, and skin or vaginal dryness, you may need hormone replacement therapy.

5. If you are afraid to use hormone replacement therapy because results you can take synthetic hrt.

6. Or take the natural bioidentical hormones are plant-based which don’t necessarily carry the same risk.

7. If you have osteopenia or osteoporosis, with all symptoms stated in Tip No. 4, your best bet for correction is hormone replacement therapy. However, if you just have osteopenia or osteoporosis without all the symptoms stated in Tip No. 4, take an anti-bone resorption drug.

8. Take 1,500 mg of calcium every day.

10. Do brisk walking two to three times your normal pace at a minimum of 40 minutes a day.

menopausal,calcium,pap smear

Menopause linked to sexual dysfunction

My friend who is single and is approaching her forty fifth birthday thinks that she is already undergoing menopausal stage. She is engaged but she intimated that she hardly feel sexually aroused when her boyfriend and she are into intimate moments.

So I was happy to find this study.


Menopausal women twice as likely to report problems, study finds

NEW YORK - Women who have particularly low levels of the hormone DHEA during menopause may be more likely to have sexual dysfunction, a new study suggests.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania found that among more than 300 women they followed for 3 years, sexual dysfunction became more common as women progressed through menopause. Postmenopausal women were more than twice as likely as premenopausal women to report problems like lack of interest in sex, pain or difficulty reaching orgasm.

But there was also evidence that other factors contributed to sexual dysfunction, including the women’s levels of DHEA, or dehydroepiandrosterone. Women with relatively low blood levels of the hormone were 59 percent more likely to report sexual problems than those with high levels.
Story continues below ↓advertisement


Dr. Clarisa R. Gracia and colleagues report their findings in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology.

DHEA is a hormone produced mainly by the adrenal gland that acts as a precursor to testosterone and estrogen. The body’s DHEA production peaks in young adulthood and gradually declines with age; because of this, supplements of synthetic DHEA are widely marketed as an anti-aging panacea.

However, the current findings do not mean that women with sexual dysfunction should turn to the supplements, as there’s not yet any evidence that they’d help, according to the study authors.

“A randomized controlled trial assessing the safety and efficacy of (DHEA) is needed to support its use for the treatment of sexual dysfunction,” Gracia and colleagues write.

The study included 311 women who were between the ages of 35 and 47 at the outset. Once a year, the researchers took blood samples from the women to measure various hormone concentrations. They also questioned the women about their health, menstrual cycles and sex lives.

Overall, Gracia’s team found, one-third of the women had some degree of sexual dysfunction by the end of the 3-year study period.

menopause,
women