Age at menopause in women with Type 2 diabetes mellitus

Objective: Considering that chronic diseases such as diabetes mellitus (DM) may determine premature ovarian failure by various mechanisms, we studied the age at menopause in women without diabetes and in women with type 2 DM. Design: We studied 409 women without diabetes and 404 patients with type 2 DM, selected from 45 to 55 years of age, for analysis with the status quo m ethod. The age at menopause was calculated with a logistic regression on th e proportions of menopausal women for each age group. Results: In the groups, 172 women without diabetes and 207 women with diabe tes had menopause. The regression procedure gave a median age of 49.7 +/- S D 1.7 years for the whole group, 49.6 +/- 1.6 years for the nondiabetic gro up, and 49.8 +/- 1.7 years for women with diabetes. Women without diabetes were 1.4 years younger, but this factor did not have an influence on the re sults. Smoking habits, vegetarianism, and somatometric variables were simil ar in both groups, except for waist/hip and abdomen/hip ratios, larger in t he group of women with diabetes, The mean for years since diagnosis in pati ents <45 years of age was 4.9 years. For older patients, the figure increas ed to 8.9 years. Conclusions: No difference for age at menopause was found between women wit hout diabetes and women with type 2 diabetes who were 5 to 8 years since th e diagnosis was made. (Menopause 1999;6:174-178. (C) 1999, The North Americ an Menopause Society.)