According to a study conducted by Hadassah Medical Organization researchers, women who experience menopause before age 50, especially before 45, are more likely to develop fatty liver disease along with its related metabolic risk factors within a year of menopause onset.
While most women experience menopause between the ages of 45 and 55 and are at higher risk of long-term health problems such as fatty liver disease post-menopause, the researchers found, after examining nearly 90,000 women, that women who experienced menopause early — between the ages of 40 and 44 — had a 46 percent higher risk of the disease within a year of menopause.
Furthermore, early menopause was associated with an 11 percent increased likelihood of pre-diabetes and obesity, a 14 percent increased risk of hypertension and a 13 percent increased risk of dyslipidemia (unhealthy levels of lipids in the bloodstream).
"Our study is the largest of its kind with a five-year follow-up period and provides support for the hypothesis that women are relatively protected from cardiometabolic disease during the perimenopausal state," said lead author Dr. Joshua Stokar. "We believe our findings justify considering an earlier age at menopause — specifically before the age of 45 — as a risk factor for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease."
The research was presented at the first Joint Congress between the European Society of Pediatric Endocrinology and the European Society of Endocrinology.
