Premature menopause poses increased mortality risk

While affecting only a small group of women, premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) appears to have a negative effect on mortality, according to a study.

Researchers performed a secondary analysis of a long-term cohort of Chilean women who received preventive healthcare. The exposure variable was POI and the outcome was death, which was evaluated over a follow-up of 30 years. Patient data were extracted from medical records, whereas death-related data were obtained from the records of the official government registry.

The analysis included 1,119 women with a median age of 47 years. The baseline prevalence of POI was 6.7 percent. During follow-up, 34.7 percent of women with POI died as compared with only 19.3 percent of those without the condition (p<0.001).

Among the documented deaths, a higher proportion of those in the POI group than in the control group were due to cardiovascular disease (12.0 percent vs. 5.1 percent; odds ratio [OR], 2.55, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.21–5.39). Meanwhile, there was no significant difference in cancer mortality (6.7 percent vs 7.7 percent; OR, 0.86, 95 percent CI, 0.34–2.19).

In the multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression model, POI was among the main factors associated with mortality (hazard ratio [HR], 1.60, 95 percent CI, 1.03–2.47), along with diabetes (HR, 2.51, 95 percent CI, 1.40–4.51) and arterial hypertension (HR, 1.75, 95 percent CI, 1.29–2.37).

The findings underscore the importance of implementing measures to reduce the risk of death in women with POI.