Q
Is there anything good to say to women who experience late menopause?
I am 54 and freaking out about the increased risk of reproductive cancers for those with late menopause, so please limit the answer to good news only!!
Reader Question • 417 votes
A
There’s actually some very good news for you if you went through menopause later rather than earlier: You may live longer.
True, late menopause is associated with an increased risk of breast, ovarian and endometrial cancers. But “on balance, most of it is good news: Later age at menopause is associated with better health, longer life and less cardiovascular disease,” said Ellen B. Gold, a professor emeritus in public health at the University of California, Davis, School of Medicine and principal investigator of the university’s Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation, or SWAN.
Those who go through menopause later are at lower risk for heart disease and stroke, and also tend to have stronger bones, less osteoporosis and fewer fractures than those who go through menopause earlier. The average age of menopause, when a woman has her last menstrual period, is 51, according to the National Institutes of Health.
While reproductive cancers, particularly breast cancer, are a concern for those who experience a late menopause, “those are rarer than cardiovascular disease, and with the possible exception of ovarian cancer, breast and endometrial cancer are very treatable when caught early,” Dr. Gold said.
A 2005 study of 12,134 postmenopausal Dutch women who were followed for 17 years found that age-adjusted mortality was reduced 2 percent with each increasing year of age at menopause. Though the risk of dying from uterine or ovarian cancer was 5 percent higher, ischemic heart disease mortality was 2 percent lower for those with later menopause, and the net effect was an increased life span, according to the study, published in the journal Epidemiology.