Associations between age at natural menopause and risk of hypothyroidism among postmenopausal women from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA)

Research Summary

Menopause is a key period in women’s lives associated with major physiological changes. Early menopausal age has been linked to a range of adverse outcomes. Estrogen has been found to increase levels of thyroid binding proteins in the blood; however, its effect on hypothyroidism is not well investigated. To date limited studies were conducted to investigate the association between age at natural menopause and incidence of hypothyroidism, thus the objective of this study is to investigate the association between age at natural menopause and incidence of hypothyroidism among postmenopausal Canadian women. The study included women from the Canadian longitudinal study on aging that were followed for a 10-year period. Analysis was restricted to naturally postmenopausal women without hypothyroidism prior to menopause. Age at natural menopause was examined using the following categories 40–44, 45–49,50–54 (reference), and ≥55. Survival analysis was utilized to determine time to onset of hypothyroidism. Unadjusted and adjusted multivariable Cox regression models were used to assess the relationship between age at natural menopause and incidence of hypothyroidism. The multivariable Cox regression analysis showed no significant association between age at natural menopause and risk of hypothyroidism.