WIDER IMPLICATION S The findings of this review indicate that alcohol consumption , particularly low and moderate alcohol intake , might be associated with later onset of menopause although the magnitude of the association is low .
BACKGROUND Early onset of menopause is associated with long-term health risks , including cardiovascular disease and premature death .
Although alcohol intake has been suggested to affect the age at which natural menopause occurs , results from observational studies are not consistent .
OBJECTIVE AND RATIONALE In the view of the differing risks to the health of early menopause and the increasing trends in alcohol consumption in women , in this systematic review , we aim ed to quantify the association between all levels of alcohol consumption and menopause onset .
Reproducibility and validity of self-reported menopausal status in a prospective cohort study.
The reproducibility and validity of self-reported menopausal status were evaluated among the 121,700 female US registered nurses aged 30 - 55 years in 1976 who are participants in the Nurses ' Health Study , a prospect i ve cohort study of diseases in women . When question ed in 1978 , 6,591 of the women who were premenopausal in 1976 reported that their menses had ceased and provided their age at menopause . Two years later , in 1980 , 98.8 per cent of the 6,591 women again reported that they were postmenopausal and again gave the reasons for menopause ( natural or surgical ) . Among those women who reported surgical menopause during the 1976 - 1978 follow-up interval , age at menopause was reported to within one year on both the 1978 and 1980 question naires by 95 per cent of women . Among those reporting natural menopause during the 1976 - 1978 period , 82 per cent of women reported their age at menopause to within one year on the two follow-up question naires . A r and om sample of 255 women reporting surgical menopause between 1982 and 1984 was identified and medical records were obtained for 200 . For all but two women , there was complete agreement between self-report and medical record for details of hysterectomy and extent of ovarian surgery . The reproducibility of self-reported age at menopause was assessed among 31,405 women who were menopausal in 1976 . Reported age at menopause on consecutive question naires showed increasing within-person variance with increasing duration since menopause . ( ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS
WIDER IMPLICATION S The findings of this review indicate that alcohol consumption , particularly low and moderate alcohol intake , might be associated with later onset of menopause although the magnitude of the association is low .
BACKGROUND Early onset of menopause is associated with long-term health risks , including cardiovascular disease and premature death .
Although alcohol intake has been suggested to affect the age at which natural menopause occurs , results from observational studies are not consistent .
OBJECTIVE AND RATIONALE In the view of the differing risks to the health of early menopause and the increasing trends in alcohol consumption in women , in this systematic review , we aim ed to quantify the association between all levels of alcohol consumption and menopause onset .