Could irregular periods be linked to early death? What a new study finds
Having irregular periods early in life is linked to a greater risk of dying before age 70, a new study finds.
Women who reported having long or irregular menstrual cycles as teenagers or young adults were more likely to die prematurely, according to research published Wednesday in The British Medical Journal (BMJ).
“Our results emphasize the need for primary care providers to include menstrual cycle characteristics throughout the reproductive years as additional vital signs in assessing women’s general health status,” researchers said.
To come up with their findings, the team conducted a study with 79,505 pre-menopausal women in the United States. Researchers say they gathered data about the participant’s periods and kept track of them for 24 years.
Of the 1,975 participant deaths reported during the study, 894 were from cancer and 172 from heart disease.
“Women who reported always having irregular menstrual cycles experienced higher mortality rates during follow-up than women who reported very regular cycles in the same age ranges,” researchers wrote.
Also, study subjects who had menstrual cycles of 40 days or longer as young adults were more likely to die early than those who had cycles lasting 26 to 31 days, according to the findings.
Several factors can lead to abnormal periods, including stress, eating habits, birth control use as well as changes or disorders within the reproductive system, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
The study defined regular periods as those happening within three to seven days of expecting them. Researchers say irregular periods are “common,” and past studies already linked them to ovarian cancer, Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and mental health problems.
Researchers in the latest study had ties to Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Michigan State University and Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China.
