Multiple occupational hazards implicated in natural menopause

A number of occupational hazards, including noise and abnormal work, appear to contribute to earlier age at natural menopause, as reported in a study.

The national cross-sectional study included 17,948 Chinese female workers. They completed a self-report questionnaire that detailed working conditions, chemical and physical agents in the occupational environment, socioeconomic factors, lifestyle, reproductive history, and occupational information.

Researchers examined the association between each occupational hazard and onset of menopause using a Cox regression model.

Of the women, 19.31 percent reported having abnormal workload, 7.95 percent reported being exposed to aromatic compounds at their workplace, and 24.94 percent reported noise exposure. These three were the most common self-reported occupational hazards in the categories of working conditions, chemical agents, and physical agents, respectively.

On multivariable analysis, the following occupational hazards emerged as independent risk factors for earlier age at natural menopause: abnormal workload (hazard ratio [HR], 1.133; p=0.038), noise (HR, 1.233; p<0.001), and heat stress (HR, 1.178; p=0.041).

However, after adjusting for all possible occupational hazards, the associations disappeared, except for noise (HR, 1.187; p=0.003), which remained statistically significant with earlier age at natural menopause.

This study is said to be the first to report occupational noise as a risk factor for reproductive senescence. Researchers called for additional research to confirm the findings.