Early Menopause in Type 2 Diabetes - A Study from a South Indian Tertiary Care Centre.

Abstract

Menopause marks the end of ovarian function and it is called 'early' or 'premature' if it occurs before 45 years. Very little is known about the menopause transition in Diabetic women. Metabolic disorders like diabetes will accelerate the reproductive ageing and determine premature ovarian failure by various mechanisms. Early menopause along with diabetes has a synergistic effect over the incidence of cardiovascular diseases and other illnesses. There is no data regarding menopausal age in Indian population. Hence, present study was aimed at understanding the age of menopause in diabetic Indian women. This study was carried out at a tertiary care, teaching hospital in Southern India. Post-menopausal women who attended the Department of Medicine during August 2013 to August 2014, were included in the study. Six hundred patients were recruited by a systematic random sampling, 300 diabetic and 300 non-diabetic after obtaining their consents. They were all non-smokers, took mixed diet and other somatometric variables were similar in both the groups. Average age of menopause among diabetic women was 44.65 years which is much earlier than the menopause in non-diabetic women (48.2 years). Out of the 600 women, 212 women had an early menopause (<45 yrs.). Among them, 54 were non-diabetic and 158 were diabetic. Present study also revealed a higher BMI among the diabetics than the non-diabetic women. This may be due to the changes in body composition and increase in abdominal fat after menopause. This change is more in diabetics due to the disturbances in insulin sensitivity and glucose metabolism. The present study confirms that Type 2 Diabetes increases the risk of early menopause. The study reinforces the importance of early diagnosis and treatment of diabetes for a long term well being of a woman.