Age at menarche and cardiovascular disease mortality in Singaporean Chinese women: The Singapore Chinese Health Study

Noel T. Mueller, Andrew O. Odegaard, Myron D Gross, Woon Puay Koh, Jian Min Yuan, Mark A Pereira

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

50 Scopus citations

Abstract

Purpose: To examine whether age at menarche was inversely associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality in Singaporean Chinese women. Methods: We followed prospectively 34,022 Chinese women aged 45 to 74 at enrollment (1993-1998), with complete data on study variables, through 2009 for primary cause of death from CVD, including coronary heart disease (CHD) and cerebrovascular disease (CERE). Hazard ratios (HRs) for CVD mortality were computed across menarcheal age categories and adjusted for potential confounders and body mass index. Results: Over 460,374 person-years of follow-up, 1852 women died from CVD, 998 from CHD and 557 from CERE. There was a significant interaction between age at menarche and smoking (P < .05). In nonsmokers, age at menarche was inversely associated with risk for CVD and CHD mortality. HRs (and 95% confidence interval) for CVD mortality across menarcheal age categories (≤12, 13-14, 15-16, ≥17) were 1.06 (0.87-1.29), 1 (referent), 0.89 (0.79-1.00), and 0.80 (0.69-0.93), respectively (Ptrend < .001); HRs for CHD mortality were 1.06 (0.80-1.34), 1 (referent), 0.76 (0.65-0.90), and 0.72 (0.58-0.88), respectively (Ptrend < .001). Among nonsmokers, there was no association between age at menarche and CERE mortality. Among smokers, menarcheal age was not associated with CVD, CHD or CERE mortality. Conclusions: Menarcheal age was inversely associated with risk of CVD mortality in nonsmoking Chinese women.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)717-722
Number of pages6
JournalAnnals of epidemiology
Volume22
Issue number10
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 2012

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number T32HL007779 and the National Institutes of Health : RO1 CA055069, R35 CA053890, R01 CA080205, R01 CA098497, R01 CA144034, and R01 DK080720 . The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Keywords

  • Cardiovascular diseases
  • Cohort studies
  • Coronary heart disease
  • Menarche
  • Stroke

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