Early menopause increases risk of heart attack
Women who go through menopause early – which for this study was defined as 46-years-old or younger - have an increased risk (roughly double) of suffering a heart attack or stroke compared to their sisters who go through a later menopause.
This conclusion comes from a study of 2500 women, followed for about 8 years, that was presented at a recent meeting of the Endocrine Society.
So what can a woman do about that increased risk?
Well, she shouldn’t take hormone therapy, because hormones did not alter the risk in that study (and as everyone should know by now, in some women, the use of hormone therapy paradoxically raises the risk of heart attack and stroke).
So that leaves the same old, same old: if a woman goes through early menopause, she should be especially careful to modify her other risk factors for heart attack and stroke by not smoking, doing exercise, eating well, and maintaining a healthy weight.
Written by Dr. Art Hister
Monday, 23 August 2010 20:35
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