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Beginning menstruations at a young age– before the age of 13– is connected to an increased threat of establishing type 2 diabetes in midlife, finds United States research study published online in the journal BMJ Nutrition Prevention & Health.
It also appears to be related to an increased threat of having a stroke before the age of 65 in those with the illness, especially those who began having periods before the age of 10 or younger, the findings show.
Diabetes and its complications are on the rise among young and middle-aged United States adults, while the age at which females start having periods is falling worldwide, note the scientists.
They therefore wanted to learn if there may be a link between these two phenomena in younger females, and utilized responses to the nationally representative National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999—2018.
Some 17,377 ladies aged between 20 and 65 were included in the study, all of whom described the age at which they had their first menstruation. This was classified as 10 or younger, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 and older.
Of the total, 1,773 (10%) reported a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. And of these, 205 (11.5%) reported some kind of heart disease.
Beginning periods before the average age of 13 was associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, after accounting for a range of potentially influential factors, including age, race/ethnicity, education, motherhood, menopausal status and family history of diabetes, smoking, exercise, alcohol intake and weight (BMI).
This varied from 32% higher (10 or younger) through 14% higher (age 11) to 29% higher (age 12).
Among females with diabetes, earlier age at first menstruation was associated with an increased risk of stroke, although not heart disease in general, after accounting for the same set of potentially influential factors.
Very early age at first menstruation—10 or younger—was linked with a more than doubling in stroke risk among females below the age of 65 with diabetes, after similar adjustments for influential factors.
This risk fell in tandem with increasing age: 81% among those with their first menstrual bleed at the age of 11, to 32% at the age of 12, and to 15% at the age of 14.
This is an observational study, and as such, can’t establish causal factors. The researchers suggest, “Earlier age at [first menstrual cycle] might be one of early life indicators of the cardiometabolic disease trajectory in females.”
They explain, “One potential pathway explanation might be that [such] females are exposed to estrogen for longer time periods, and early [menstruation] has been associated with higher estrogen levels.”
They explain that while the observed associations between age at first menstruation and stroke complications weakened a little after accounting for weight, these still remained statistically significant.
