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2000
Volume 22, Issue 2
  • ISSN: 1573-4048
  • E-ISSN: 1875-6581

Abstract

Introduction

Reproductive span is defined as the duration between menarche and menopause. This study aims to estimate natural menopause age and reproductive span, and investigate their relationship with menarche age, which provides important information about women's health status in an Iranian society.

Methods

This cross-sectional study was conducted on 4415 women who participated in the enrollment phase of the Shahedieh cohort study. Of 1715 subjects who experienced menopause, 1276 women had natural menopause. Age at menopause and reproductive life span were estimated in 4,415 women, aged 35 to 70 years, who were a part of the Persian cohort study by Kaplan-Meier. Crude and adjusted hazard ratios (HR) of menopause by breastfeeding duration were determined using Cox regression.

Results and Discussion

In all menarche groups, the median age of menopause was estimated to be 52 years for 1276 women who had natural menopause and 3139 women who did not. The estimated median of the reproductive period was 38, which decreased with increasing age at menarche (< 0.001), which did not change even after adjusting for breastfeeding. Women with menarche at age≤11 years had 2 years longer and women with menarche at age>14 years had 2 years shorter median reproductive period than women with menarche at age 12-13 years (median: 41 37 years). According to the adjusted Cox regression model for breastfeeding duration, women with early menarche had the lowest hazard rates of menopause (HR = 0.70; 95% CI: 0.56–0.87). HR for the late menarche age group had the highest hazard rates of menopause (HR = 1.41; 95% CI: 1.25-1.59).

Conclusion

Menarche age was not a significant determinant for menopause age, while it is a strong indicator for the duration of women’s reproductive period.

© 2026 Bentham Science Publishers
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2025-05-29
2026-03-05

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The Relation of Age at Menarche with Reproductive Span in Women of Persian (Shahedieh) Cohort
Curr Womens Health Rev. 22, E15734048369421 (2026); https://doi.org/10.2174/0115734048369421250519222302
/content/journals/cwhr/10.2174/0115734048369421250519222302
/content/journals/cwhr/10.2174/0115734048369421250519222302
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  • Article Type:     Research Article
Keyword(s): hazard ratio; Kaplan-Meier method; Menarche; menopause; osteoporosis; reproductive span

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