Starting menstrual cycles at an early age, before the age of 13, is related to an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes in medium age, according to an American study published in the open access magazine 'BMJ Nutrition Prevention & AMP;Health '.And it also seems to be associated with a greater risk of suffering a stroke before the age of 65 in those who suffer from the disease, especially those that began to menstruate before the age of 10, indicate the results.
According to researchers, diabetes and their complications are increasing among young and middle -aged adults, while the age at which women begin to have menstruation is decreasing worldwide.Therefore, they wanted to find out if there could be a link between these two phenomena in younger women, and were based on the responses to the National Health and Nutrition Exam Survey (NHAES) 1999-2018, representative nationwide.
Some 17,377 women between 20 and 65 years were included in the study, all of whom specified the age at which they had had their first menstrual cycle.This was classified in 10 years or less, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 years or more.
Of the total, 1,773 (10%) declared to have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, 205 (11.6%) had type 2 diabetes, and of them, 205 (11.5%) declared some kindof cardiovascular disease.
The start of menstruation before the 13 -year average age was associated with a higher risk of type 2 diabetes, after taking into account a series of potentially influential factors, such as age, breed/ethnicity, education, motherhood, the menopausal state and the family history of diabetes, smoking, physical activity, alcohol consumption and weight (BMI).The increase ranged from 32% (10 years or less), 14% (11 years) and 29% (12 years).
Among women with diabetes, an earlier age in the first menstrual cycle was associated with a higher risk of stroke, although not of general cardiovascular disease, after taking into account the same set of potentially influential factors.
A very early age in the first menstrual cycle-10 years or less-was associated with an increase of more than double in the risk of stroke among women under 65 with diabetes, after making similar adjustments for influential factors.This risk decreased along with age: 81% among those who had their first menstrual bleeding at age 11, 32% at 12 years and 15% at 14 years.
It is an observational study and, as such, cannot establish causal factors, but, according to researchers, "an earlier age in the first menstrual cycle can be one of the first indicators of the trajectory of heart disease in thewomen".
They explain that "a possible way of explanation could be that these women are exposed to estrogens for longer periods of time, and early menstruation has been associated with higher levels of estrogen."
They point out that, although the associations observed between the age of the first menstrual cycle and the complications of the stroke were weakly weakened after taking into account the weight, they remained statistically significant.
"Therefore, adiposity can also play a role in the association observed between the early age in the first menstrual cycle and the complications of the stroke, since greater adiposity in childhood is associated with an earlier age in menstruation and menstruationWith heart disease later in life, "they suggest.
"These results add another dimension to the determining factors of potentially less known heart risk, especially in women, which have been relatively little represented in this area ofResearch, "says Professor Sumantra Ray, Executive Director of the NNEDPRO Global Center for Nutrition & AMP; Health, co -owner of 'BMJ Nutrition Prevention & AMP; Health'.
"And they provide a clear orientation about the need to design intervention studies that analyze the prevention of heart disease in ethnically diverse groups of women who begin to menstruate at an early age," he concludes.