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Early Menopause Tied to Osteoporosis in 29-Year Study

Posted 25 Apr 2012 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, April 25 – Women who go through menopause early are almost twice as likely to have the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis later in life, new research indicates. In addition, researchers from the Skane University Hospital in Malmo, Sweden, noted that these women are also at greater risk for fracture and an increased death rate. For the study, the researchers recruited 390 white women from northern Europe in 1977. The women, who were 48 years old at that time, were divided into two groups: those who went through menopause before the age of 47; and those who started menopause at age 47 or later. The women were followed for roughly three decades. All of the women had their bone mineral density measured. After 29 years, only 198 women remained in the study due to deaths, relocation or lack of participation. By this point, the women were 77 years old. The researchers re-measured ... Read more

Study Suggests Mental 'Fog' of Menopause Is Real

Posted 20 Mar 2012 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, March 20 – The memory blips and distractible moments that women say they experience during menopause may be as real as the hot flashes and poor sleep, a new study suggests. Researchers gave women who said they were experiencing "menopause fog" a series of cognitive tests to see how well their abilities matched their complaints. Sure enough, the women who felt they had more memory problems were also the ones who did not keep track of information or maintain their focus as well. "The main point of this study is that women are really good monitors. If a woman says, 'I'm having memory problems,' she probably is," said study co-author Pauline Maki, director of Women's Mental Health Research in the department of psychiatry at University of Illinois at Chicago. On the other hand, people with age-related mental decline do not usually identify the problem, suggesting the memory issues ... Read more

Factors Linked to Age of Onset of Menopause Identified

Posted 26 Jan 2012 by Drugs.com

THURSDAY, Jan. 26 – New genetic factors associated with a woman's age when she begins menopause have been identified by an international team of researchers. Researchers identified 13 loci (specific location of a gene on a chromosome) linked with immune function and DNA repair, which have an effect on when menopause begins, said the researchers from the Boston University Schools of Public Health and Medicine and colleagues. They also confirmed four previously established loci. For most women, menopause – the term for the end of reproductive function of the ovaries – occurs in the early 50s. The study was published online Jan. 22 in the journal Nature Genetics. Most previous studies examining age of onset of menopause have zeroed in on genes associated with the estrogen-production pathway or vascular components, the researchers said. "Our findings demonstrate the role of genes which ... Read more

Factors Identified That May Raise Risk of Early Menopause

Posted 18 Oct 2011 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, Oct. 18 – Certain factors have been found to be associated with a raised risk of early menopause, including having a chronic inflammatory disease or having one of two genes known to be linked to breast cancer, especially among those who smoke, according to two new studies. The studies were slated for presentation Tuesday at the annual meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) in Orlando, Fla. In one study, researchers examined data from the University of California, San Francisco Cancer Risk Registry on 931 white women in the United States and found that BRCA1 and BRCA2 carriers started menopause at a much earlier age than those without the breast cancer genes – age 48 versus 53. Heavy smoking (20 or more cigarettes a day) was associated with an even earlier onset of menopause in BRCA1/2 carriers, an average age of 45.5, the study revealed. In another ... Read more

Acupuncture May Take Edge Off Menopause Symptoms

Posted 8 Mar 2011 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, March 8 – Acupuncture may help reduce the severity of hot flashes and other symptoms of menopause, according to a small study. The research included 53 postmenopausal women, with about half receiving traditional Chinese acupuncture twice a week and the others given sham acupuncture treatments. After 10 weeks, the women in the traditional acupuncture group had significantly less severe hot flashes and mood swings than those who'd gotten the fake treatment. There were no differences between the two groups in terms of vaginal dryness and urinary tract infection. The beneficial effects of traditional acupuncture, according to the researchers, did not appear to be associated with changes in levels of hormones that trigger menopause and its associated symptoms. The findings were published online March 7 in Acupuncture in Medicine. Though the researchers acknowledged that they did ... Read more

Positive Attitude, Planning May Help Women Through Menopause

Posted 10 Nov 2010 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 10 – A positive attitude and a little preparation can help women deal with menopause, according to an expert. Women should start preparing when they experience perimenopause, the stage before menopause. Perimenopause typically begins in the 40s, but can start as early as the 30s, according to Dr. Karen Deighan, chair of obstetrics/gynecology at Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, Loyola University Health System. "I give my perimenopausal patients a pep talk so they don't get down on themselves," she said in a Loyola news release. "I tell them that they shouldn't just let this transition happen. Women can be proactive about their health and take steps to minimize the side effects of menopause before it occurs." Deighan offered the following tips: Start exercising in order to prevent the 5- to 10-pound weight gain typical of menopause. Fluctuations in hormones can contribute to ... Read more

Related support groups: Postmenopausal Symptoms, Perimenopausal Symptoms

Blood Test May One Day Predict Menopause, Researchers Say

Posted 28 Jun 2010 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, June 28 – A simple blood test may one day help predict the age at which a woman will begin menopause, say the scientists who developed the test. Their study found that the average difference between the age predicted by the test and the actual age a woman reached menopause was about four months, while the maximum margin of error was between three and four years. If the accuracy of the test is confirmed in larger studies, women could take the test early on their reproductive life to find out their expected age at menopause, knowledge that would help them plan when to start a family, said researcher Dr. Fahimeh Ramezani Tehrani, president of the Reproductive Endocrinology Department of the Endocrine Research Centre and associate professor at Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in Tehran, Iran. The test measures concentrations of anti-Mullerian Hormone (AMH), a hormone ... Read more

Menopause Often Means Worsening Cholesterol

Posted 12 Dec 2009 by Drugs.com

FRIDAY, Dec. 11 – Blood levels of LDL cholesterol, the bad kind that blocks arteries, go up sharply in women at the time of menopause, but there are no other dramatic changes in risk factors for heart attack, stroke and other cardiovascular problems, a new study has found. "This suggests that as women approach menopause, they need to have their lipid profiles checked," said Karen A. Matthews, a professor of psychiatry, epidemiology and psychology at the University of Pittsburgh and the study's lead author. A report on the findings is published in the Dec. 15/22 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, which is focused on prevention of cardiovascular disease. Two other studies reported in the same issue showed that higher doses of statins, drugs that lower LDL cholesterol levels, are more effective over the long run than lower doses in preventing heart attacks, other ... Read more

Memory Takes a Hit During Menopause

Posted 25 May 2009 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, May 25 – Science is now backing up what women have long claimed: Memory and learning take a hit during menopause. Research published in the May 26 issue of Neurology finds that women do not learn as well during early and late perimenopause, when periods are irregular but have not disappeared altogether. But the changes were subtle, manifesting as less improvement rather than actual decline, the authors stated. Most importantly, the deficits, if they can be called that, were temporary: A woman's learning capacity bounces back once postmenopause has begun. "The good news is that when women are finished with the menopause transition and in steady postmenopause, cognitive performance, memory, learning, all that comes back to premenopause levels," said Dr. Arun S. Karlamangla, an associate professor of medicine at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine and the study's senior author. ... Read more

Related support groups: Perimenopausal Symptoms

Soybean Chemicals May Reduce Effects of Menopause

Posted 9 Apr 2009 by Drugs.com

THURSDAY, April 9 – Chemicals in soybeans reduced the effects of menopause in rats, according to a Taiwanese study. The researchers found that dietary supplementation with soy aglycons of isoflavone (SAI) – a group of chemicals found in soybeans – lowered cholesterol, boosted the anti-oxidative abilities of the liver, and prevented degeneration of the vaginal lining in female rats who'd had their ovaries removed. "These ovariectomized animals are a good model for study of the menopause as the loss of estrogen from the ovaries mimics the natural reduction in estrogen seen in menopausal women," study leader Robin Chiou, of the National Chiayi University in Taiwan, said in a news release. "SAI itself has weak estrogenic properties, and we've shown here that menopause-related syndromes can be prevented or improved by dietary supplementation with the compounds it contains." The ... Read more

Acupuncture May Not Help Hot Flashes

Posted 7 Apr 2009 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, April 7 – Acupuncture appears ineffective in treating menopause-related hot flashes, according to researchers who reviewed six randomized controlled studies that compared the effects of real acupuncture and sham acupuncture. Only one of the studies found that acupuncture helped reduce the frequency and severity of hot flashes at four weeks follow-up after treatment. The number of good randomized controlled trials is too small to draw any firm conclusion about whether acupuncture helps treat hot flashes, but the evidence from the studies suggests the treatment is ineffective, said lead researcher Dr. Myeong Soo Lee of the Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine in South Korea. The review was published in the journal Climacteric. The researchers noted that many women seek help to deal with symptoms that can occur during and after menopause. Because of concerns about hormone ... Read more

2 Years of Hormone Use May Be 'Safe'

Posted 3 Feb 2009 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, Feb. 3 – A potential two-year "safe period" for hormone replacement therapy has been identified by American Cancer Society epidemiologists, who also confirmed that using estrogen-plus-progesterone therapy increases the risk for both ductal and lobular breast cancer far more than taking estrogen alone. The finding follows a report last month from the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada that women have been needlessly scared away from using hormone therapy during menopause. Researchers for the U.S. study followed 68,369 postmenopausal women who were cancer-free when the study began in 1992. They were followed through mid-2005. Along with confirming previous findings of increased breast cancer risk from combination therapy, the research team also found that the cancer risk increases substantially within three years of starting estrogen-plus-progesterone therapy. ... Read more

FDA Medwatch Alert: Compounded Menopause Hormone Therapy Drugs

Posted 10 Jan 2008 by Drugs.com

[Posted 01/10/2008] FDA informed healthcare professionals and patients that the Agency sent letters warning seven pharmacy operations that the claims they make about the safety and effectiveness of their so-called "bio-identical hormone replacement therapy," or "BHRT" products are unsupported by medical evidence, and are considered false and misleading by the agency. The pharmacy operations improperly claim that their drugs, which contain hormones such as estrogen, progesterone, and estriol (which is not a component of an FDA-approved drug and has not been proven safe and effective for any use) are superior to FDA-approved menopausal hormone therapy drugs and prevent or treat serious diseases, including Alzheimer's disease, stroke, and various forms of cancer. FDA is concerned that the claims for safety, effectiveness, and superiority that these pharmacy operations are making mislead ... Read more

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