Research in the US has shown that women who enter menopause earlier have a higher risk of heart failure.
Still, the study indicated that women who never gave birth are 2.75 times more likely to develop this disease than women who had children.
Given these results, the authors of the research highlight the importance of studying in more detail what is the influence of factors such as pregnancy and duration of the reproductive period on women's heart health.
"These are factors that can influence a woman's risk of heart disease, especially heart failure," said Nisha Parikh, co-author of the research, which was jointly conducted by eight US universities.
Understanding the research
The study, which was published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, analyzed data collected from 1993 to 1998 for 28,516 women with an average age of 63 years. In this sample, the average age for menopause was 47 years? and 1,494 of these women had to be hospitalized due to heart failure.
Read also: How to deal with menopause symptoms
Among factors such as age, education level, smoking, body mass index, oral contraceptive use and hysterectomy, did the research team realize that early menopause? and a shorter reproductive period as a result? was related to a higher risk for heart disease. More precisely, each year plus a woman's age at the time of menopause, she will be 1% less likely to suffer from heart failure.
One of the hypotheses raised by the researchers to explain this relationship is that an early menopause would shorten the reproductive period, also reducing the time during which the body is exposed to sex hormones, such as estrogen.
What about women who had no children?
The study also showed that women who never gave birth were 2.75 times more likely to develop heart failure than women who had children.
The relationship between childlessness and illness is still uncertain, and the researchers suggest that the explanation for this phenomenon may be factors associated with a woman's lifestyle, such as depression. "Of course, many women choose not to get pregnant, and we still can't assess that factor," said scientist Nisha Parikh.
She said she hopes this study will raise awareness among the medical community about the relationship between reproductive factors and the development of heart disease. Thus, she hopes that doctors will also consider their patients' reproductive history to assess their risk for failure.
Also read: Early Menopause: What is it?
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