A Prospective Study of Factors Affecting Age at Menopause among the Bandar-E-Kong Cohort

Abstract

Menopause is a natural period of women’s life and can be affected by several factors. This paper describes and identify the age of natural menopause and its associated factors based cohort study in Iran. In this study, we used data of Bandar-e-Kong study. This prospective cohort study includes 2,334 woman’s aged between 18 to 70 years old, which was conducted from March 2016 to February 2019. All women completed data collection forms includes a validated questionnaire survey. Data were analyzed using chi-square test, independent t test, and ANOVA as well as a multivariate linear regression model. The total of participants with the age range of 18-70 years, 894 were menopause females. The mean age of menopause was 48.31 ± 6.34 years with a minimum of 20 and a maximum of 66 years. The number of pregnancies, duration of breastfeeding, level of education, residency, presence of thyroid disease, and body mass index affected the age of menopause. This study suggests that number of pregnancy was associated with menopausal age. According to the results of this study, the existence of appropriate educational programs to promote awareness and lifestyle in postmenopausal women is essential.