Early menopause tied to heart disease, risk of death

Many women claim that heart attacks and strokes are men's diseases. That's not true. Heart attacks as well as strokes are among the perpetrators of mass murder in women. In fact, after the age of 50, nearly half of all deaths in women are caused by cardiovascular disease and stroke.

When women enter their 50s, around the age of menopause, their risk of cardiovascular diseases increases to incredible levels. In young women who have experienced early menopause or menopause due to surgery without using estrogen instead, their risk of heart disease will also be higher. Women who have gone through menopause and have the following risk factors for cardiovascular disease have an even greater risk:

• Diabetes mellitus
• smoke
• High blood pressure
• High LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol) index
• HDL cholesterol index (good cholesterol) at low levels
• obesity
• Passive lifestyle
• Family history of cardiovascular disease

Early menopause can double the risk of having a stroke.

A study found that "Women with a menstrual cycle that stops before the age of 42 are twice as likely to have a stroke", February 20, 2009 (San Diego)

"Women who have a natural menopause after age 54 are 70 percent less likely to have a stroke than women who start menopause before age 42," said researcher Linda Lisabeth, an associate professor and ph.D. professor in the department of epidemiology and neurobiology at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor).

"The data suggests that about 1 in 20 strokes in women belong to going through early menopause" Linda Lisabeth told WebMB.

The researchers only studied women who had gone through natural menopause, not women who stopped their menstrual cycles by surgery or therapy. Their findings were presented at the International Stroke Conference in 2009 and are also published online on the page of Stroke magazine.

To conduct the study, researchers followed 1,430 women who participated in the Framingham cardiovascular study. None of them had a stroke before the age of 60.

The women were followed for an average of 22 years. During this period, 234 people had suffered is an is an ise-infectiemia stroke. It is the most common type of stroke, an issy current stroke that occurs when the blood vessel leading to the brain is blocked by a blood clot. This leads to brain cell death and brain damage.

Even after the risks from smoking, diabetes, blood pressure, and some causes of stroke are considered, "women who go through menopause under the age of 42 are more likely to have a stroke," said Lisabeth.

"The findings raise the hypothesis that a decrease in hormone levels increases the risk of stroke, but current evidence suggests this hypothesis is inappropriate," she said.

"For example, WHI , women's Health Action, states that given hormone medications after menopause actually increases the risk of heart disease, stroke, and certain types of cancer," according to Dr. Larry B. Goldstein, Director of Duke Stroke Center (Durham, N.C).

"One limitation of studies like this is that they only show a link between the two causes — in this case menopause and the risk of having a stroke — without proving cause and effect," he said.

"You can find something in epidemiological studies, but that doesn't mean doing it improves the results," Goldstein told WebMD.

Despite the inconsistencies of the data, what should women who experience menopause at an early age do? Patients are advised to visit with a specialist to check for problems that should be exercised in early menopause.

About 3 to 10% of women enter the natural menopause before the age of 45, according to data cited in the study.

There are no cardiovascular hazards associated with the use of alternative hormone therapy, and even this therapy offers many benefits, depending on age.

Women who begin menopause less than 10 years before starting hormone replacement therapy show no signs of increasing their risk of heart disease. The same is true of people between the ages of 50 and 59 when using this therapy.

Young women are usually not at risk or their risk of heart disease is very low. However, women beyond the age of 60 who experienced menopause more than 10 years ago may have an increased risk of a mild heart attack.

A healthy lifestyle will accompany the prevention of heart disease and stroke in women. Insinging the following tips into your daily life can help you reduce your risk of heart disease as well as stroke during and after menopause:

• Avoid or stop smoking. Smokers are twice as likely to have heart attacks and strokes. Not only does it not smoke, avoid passive inhalation of tobacco smoke, it also increases the likelihood of getting sick.
• Maintain a healthy weight. The more you lose your ideal weight, the harder your heart will have to work to provide nutrients to your body. Research shows that obesity will cause the onsunturing of heart disease.
• Daily exercise. The heart is like other muscles – it needs to work to stay healthy. Actively exercising regularly (ideally at least 150 minutes per week) will help to improve cardiovascular significantly. Activity and exercise also help reduce many other risk factors. It helps reduce blood cholesterol levels, reduces stress, helps to lose weight and improves blood sugar levels.

• Eat healthily. Follow diets low in saturated and trans fats (hydrogenated fats); and rich in fiber, cereals, plants of the legume family (such as beans and peas), fruits, vegetables, fish, foods rich in folic acid and soybeans.
• Treatment and grasp of health conditions. Diabetes mellitus, increased cholesterol, and high blood pressure are among the causes believed to be at high risk for cardiovascular disease and stroke.

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Article reference source: webmd.com