American Journal of Epidemiology Advance Access originally published online on August 23, 2006
American Journal of Epidemiology 2006 164(10):1003-1011; doi:10.1093/aje/kwj282
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Original Contribution |
From Menarche to Menopause: Trends among US Women Born from 1912 to 1969
1 University of Wisconsin Comprehensive Cancer Center, Madison, WI
2 Department of Population Health Sciences, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI
3 Dartmouth Medical School, Lebanon, NH
4 Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
5 Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA
6 Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA
Correspondence to Hazel Nichols, University of Wisconsin Comprehensive Cancer Center, Room 307, WARF Building, 610 Walnut Street, Madison, WI 53726 (e-mail: hbnichols{at}wisc.edu).
The authors investigated secular trends in age at menarche, age at menopause, and reproductive life span within a population-based cohort of US women. Study subjects were 22,774 women selected randomly as controls for a case-control study. Eligible controls were residents of Wisconsin, Massachusetts, or New Hampshire born between 1910 and 1969. Subjects completed telephone interviews in 1988–2001 and answered questions regarding reproductive and lifestyle factors. Birth cohorts were created using 5- and 10-year periods, and statistical comparisons were performed with analysis of variance. The mean age at menarche decreased by approximately 6 months for those born between 1910 and 1949 (13.1 vs. 12.7 years; p < 0.001), with a subsequent increase to 13.0 years among women born between 1960 and 1969 (p < 0.001). Among naturally menopausal women aged 60 or more years who reported never use of postmenopausal hormone therapy, the authors observed a 17-month increase in the mean age at menopause for those born between 1915 and 1939 (49.1 vs. 50.5 years; p = 0.001) after adjustment for potential confounders. They also observed an increase in the average number of reproductive years (subtracting age at menarche from age at natural menopause), from 36.1 years among women born between 1915 and 1919 to 37.7 years among the 1935–1939 cohort (p = 0.0001). These findings have implications for women's lifetime exposure to circulating endogenous hormones.
case-control studies; hormones; menarche; menopause; reproduction; women
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  N. Gavrilova and S. T. Lindau Salivary Sex Hormone Measurement in a National, Population-Based Study of Older Adults J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci, November 1, 2009; 64B(suppl_1): i94 - i105. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 A. Hendifar, D. Yang, F. Lenz, G. Lurje, A. Pohl, C. Lenz, Y. Ning, W. Zhang, and H.-J. Lenz Gender Disparities in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer Survival Clin. Cancer Res., October 15, 2009; 15(20): 6391 - 6397. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 W. D. Leslie, S. O'Donnell, S. Jean, C. Lagace, P. Walsh, C. Bancej, S. Morin, D. A. Hanley, A. Papaioannou, and for the Osteoporosis Surveillance Expert Working G Trends in Hip Fracture Rates in Canada JAMA, August 26, 2009; 302(8): 883 - 889. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 L. D. Lisabeth, A. S. Beiser, D. L. Brown, J. M. Murabito, M. Kelly-Hayes, and P. A. Wolf Age at Natural Menopause and Risk of Ischemic Stroke: The Framingham Heart Study Stroke, April 1, 2009; 40(4): 1044 - 1049. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 B K Jacobsen, K Oda, S F Knutsen, and G E Fraser Age at menarche, total mortality and mortality from ischaemic heart disease and stroke: the Adventist Health Study, 1976-88 Int. J. Epidemiol., February 1, 2009; 38(1): 245 - 252. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 J. S. Lee, P. M. Bracci, and E. A. Holly Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma in Women: Reproductive Factors and Exogenous Hormone Use Am. J. Epidemiol., August 1, 2008; 168(3): 278 - 288. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
L. E. Kelemen, V. S. Pankratz, T. A. Sellers, K. R. Brandt, A. Wang, C. Janney, Z. S. Fredericksen, J. R. Cerhan, and C. M. Vachon Age-specific Trends in Mammographic Density: The Minnesota Breast Cancer Family Study Am. J. Epidemiol., May 1, 2008; 167(9): 1027 - 1036. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 J. L. Sperry and J. P. Minei Gender dimorphism following injury: making the connection from bench to bedside J. Leukoc. Biol., March 1, 2008; 83(3): 499 - 506. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
B. K. Jacobsen, I. Heuch, and G. Kvale Association of Low Age at Menarche with Increased All-Cause Mortality: A 37-Year Follow-up of 61,319 Norwegian Women Am. J. Epidemiol., December 15, 2007; 166(12): 1431 - 1437. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
D. M. Freedman and R. E. Tarone RE: "FROM MENARCHE TO MENOPAUSE: TRENDS AMONG US WOMEN BORN FROM 1912 TO 1969" Am. J. Epidemiol., October 1, 2007; 166(7): 860 - 861. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|