Hormones, weight change and menopause

OBJECTIVE: To determine total body weight change occurring in women at mid- life, specifically with respect to occurrence of menopause and use of estro gen. DESIGN: Retrospective analysis of body weight measurements accumulated in two cohorts of healthy women participating in studies of skeletal metab olism. SUBJECTS: Cohort 1: 191 healthy nuns enrolled in a prospective study of ost eoporosis risk, aged 35 - 45 in 1967; cohort 2: 75 women aged 46 or older a nd still menstruating, enrolled in 1988 in a study of bone cell dynamics ac ross menopause. Roughly one-third of each group received hormone replacemen t after menopause. MEASUREMENTS: Body weight and height, age, menstrual status and use of estr ogen replacement. Cohort 1: 608 measurements at 5y intervals spanning a per iod from 17y before to 22y after menopause; cohort 2. 1180 measurements at 6-month intervals spanning a period from 5y prior to 5y after menopause. RESULTS: In cohort 1 weight rose as a linear function of age (both chronolo gical and menopausal), both before and after cessation of ovarian function, at a rate of similar to0.43%y(-1). Neither the menopausal transition nor t he use of estrogen had an appreciable effect on this rate of gain. In cohor t 2 the rate of gain seemed to diminish slightly at menopause. As with coho rt 1, hormone replacement (or its absence) had no appreciable effect on wei ght. CONCLUSIONS: The long-term, total body weight trajectory at mid-life is not influenced appreciably by either cessation of ovarian function or by hormo ne replacement.