Associations of reproductive factors with incidence of myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke in postmenopausal women: a cohort study.

backgroundTo assess the association between the reproductive factors of age at menarche, age at menopause, and reproductive span and the incidence of myocardial infarction (MI) and ischemic stroke (IS).

methodsWe used a population-based retrospective cohort study from the National Health Insurance Service database of Korea including a total of 1,224,547 postmenopausal women. Associations between age at menarche (≤ 12, 13-14 [reference], 15, 16, and ≥ 17 years), age at menopause (< 40, 40-45, 46-50, 51-54 [reference], and ≥ 55 years), and reproductive span (< 30, 30-33, 34-36, 37-40 [reference], and ≥ 41 years) and the incidence of MI and IS were assessed by Cox proportional hazard models with adjustment for traditional cardiovascular risk factors and various reproductive factors.

resultsDuring a median follow-up of 8.4 years, 25,181 MI and 38,996 IS cases were identified. Late menarche (≥ 16 years), early menopause (≤ 50 years), and short reproductive span (≤ 36 years) were linearly associated with a 6%, 12-40%, and 12-32% higher risk of MI, respectively. Meanwhile, a U-shaped association between age at menarche and risk of IS was found, with a 16% higher risk in early menarche (≤ 12 years) and a 7-9% higher risk in late menarche (≥ 16 years). Short reproductive span was linearly associated with an increased risk of MI, whereas both shorter and longer reproductive spans were associated with an increased risk of IS.

conclusionsThis study demonstrated different patterns of association between age at menarche and incidence of MI and IS: a linear association for MI versus a U-shaped association for IS. Female reproductive factors in addition to traditional cardiovascular risk factors should be considered when assessing overall cardiovascular risk in postmenopausal women.