When am I likely to reach my menopause?
The average age at menopause is 50.5 years in Caucasian women – half have their last period earlier and half later. One woman in ten will still have her periods at the age of 54 and on occasion they may persist until the age of 57. This has probably not changed over the last 100 years. In contrast, the average age at menarche (first period) seems to be getting lower (puberty). Low financial income and poor education are associated with earlier menopause but age at menarche, marital status, weight, height, number of pregnancies and use of oestrogens in the pill or hormone replacement therapy are unrelated. There may be a tendency for early menopause to follow within a family.
Related Medical Abstracts - Click on the paper title:-
- Age at natural menopause in a population-based screening cohort: The role of menarche, fecundity, and lifestyle factors (1997)
- Family history as a predictor of early menopause (1995)
- A prospective study of factors affecting age at menopause (1989)
- Cigarette smoking and age at natural menopause (1980)
Please click on the required question.
- 1 What will happen to me at my menopause?
- 2 Why does nature put women through the menopause?
- 3 Is life-expectancy changing?
- 4 What happens to my reproductive hormones at the menopause?
- 5 What non-hormonal changes occur at the menopause?
- 6 What problems might I have as a result of my menopause?
- 7 When am I likely to reach my menopause?
- 8 What is a premature menopause?
- 9 What are hot flushes and will HRT reduce them?
- 10 What causes hot flushes and night sweats?
- 11 Can my bladder problems be related to the menopause?
- 12 Can the menopause be associated with psychological problems.
- 13 How long can my menopausal (climacteric) symptoms last?
- 14 Is there a test that will accurately determine when my menopause has occurred?
- 15 Is it normal to experience heavy periods before the menopause?
- 16 How are heavy periods around the time of the menopause treated?
- 17 Is there a need to investigate vaginal bleeding after the menopause (postmenopausal bleeding)?
- 18 What could be the cause of vaginal bleeding after the menopause?
- 19 What is atrophic vaginitis?
- 20 What local genital symptoms can be associated with the menopause?
- 21 I have gone through the menopause and now have some bleeding (postmenopausal bleeding PMB). What will my gynaecologist wish to do?
- 22 Could I have any other long-term medical problems resulting from my menopause?
- 23 What is coronary heart disease?
- 24 What is osteoporosis?
- 25 Where else can I obtain further information?
- 26 Could I have some recommended menopause support groups.
Thank you for choosing to visit us.
This is the personal website of David A Viniker MD FRCOG, Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at Whipps Cross University Hospital, London - Specialist Interests - Reproductive Medicine including Infertility, PCOS, PMS, Menopause and HRT.
I do hope that you find the answers to your women's health questions in the patient information and medical advice provided.
