Abstract
Abstract A woman's age at menarche and her age at menopause are the alpha and omega of her reproductive years. The timing of these milestones is critical for a woman's health trajectory over her lifespan, as they are indicators of ovarian function and aging. Both early and late timing of either event are associated with risk for adverse health, in particular risk for hormonal cancers in women, quality of life and lifespan. Thus, the search for a relationship between age at menarche and menopause has consequences for chronic disease prevention and implications for public health. Trends in ages at menarche and menopause worldwide and in sub-populations will be presented, however challenges exist in constructing trends. Among 36 studies that examine the association between the two sentinel events, 10 reported a significant direct association, and two reported an inverse association, while the remaining 26 had null results. Over the life course, exposures to environmental and hormonal factors during the prenatal, postnatal and adolescent periods have the potential to initiate, promote, and/or alter mammary and ovarian changes that may affect both age at menarche and natural menopause. This presentation will focus on epidemiological research from several longitudinal prospective cohort studies of multiple factors including hormonal and environmental exposures, socioeconomic status and stress that are hypothesized to influence the tempo of growth including body size and height, development, menarche, menopause and the aging process in women. Citation Format: Michele Robin Forman. Early life environmental exposures, sentinel reproductive events, and cancer risk in women. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Eleventh Annual AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research; 2012 Oct 16-19; Anaheim, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Prev Res 2012;5(11 Suppl):Abstract nr PL01-02.
Published Version
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