Early age at menarche ups risk of hypertension

Women who had their first occurrence of menstruation at a much younger age than usual are at greater risk of hypertension, according to a study.

Moreover, adiposity and insulin resistance appear to mediate the association between age at menarche and hypertension in this population.

This cross-sectional study enrolled 7,518 women (median age, 56 years) from a rural Chinese area from 2013 to 2014. The authors measured adiposity by body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference, and insulin resistance by the homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) index.

Multivariate logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95 percent confidence intervals (CIs) for the association between age at menarche and hypertension. In addition, mediation analysis was performed to examine the contribution of adiposity and insulin resistance to this association.

Of the participants, 3,187 (42.39 percent) were hypertensive. Age at menarche showed an inverse relationship with hypertension (per additional year of menarche: OR, 0.965, 95 percent CI, 0.935–0.995).

Furthermore, BMI or waist circumference and HOMA-IR mediated the association of age at menarche with hypertension (for BMI and HOMA-IR, total indirect effect: OR, 0.970, 95 percent CI, 0.962–0.978; direct effect: OR, 0.994, 95 percent CI, 0.963–1.026; for waist circumference and HOMA-IR, total indirect effect: OR, 0.981, 95 percent CI, 0.973–0.988; direct effect: OR, 0.983, 95 percent CI, 0.952–1.014).