Longer Reproductive Life Span Tied to Lower Odds of Multimorbidity

Odds of multimorbidity lower among postmenopausal women with 35 to 37 or ≥38 reproductive years versus those with ≤32 reproductive years

By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, Aug. 8, 2024 (HealthDay News) — A longer reproductive life span is associated with a lower prevalence of multimorbidity among postmenopausal women, according to a study published online July 30 in Menopause.

Jiao Jiao, M.D., from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Jinan, China, and colleagues explored the association between reproductive life span and multimorbidity in postmenopausal Chinese women. The analysis included 1,310 postmenopausal women.

The researchers found that the average reproductive life span was 34 years among participants and the prevalence of multimorbidity was 22.2 percent. Compared with postmenopausal women in quartile 1 of the reproductive life span (≤32 reproductive years), those in quartile 3 (35 to 37 reproductive years) and quartile 4 (≥38 reproductive years) were less likely to have multimorbidity (quartile 3: odds ratio [OR], 0.529 [95 percent confidence interval (CI), 0.347 to 0.805]; quartile 4: OR, 0.510 [95 percent CI, 0.308 to 0.842]). Odds of multimorbidity were not significantly increased for participants in quartile 2 (33 to 34 reproductive years; OR, 0.700 [95 percent CI, 0.446 to 1.098]). There was a linear trend in the association between the reproductive life span and multimorbidity, with a longer reproductive life span tied to a lower risk for multimorbidity.

“This study highlights the growing body of evidence that links the duration of the reproductive life span in women with health outcomes such as cardiovascular disease and mortality,” Stephanie Faubion, M.D., medical director of The Menopause Society, said in a statement. “What remains unclear and needs to be studied further is the direction of the association. In other words, does the presence of multiple chronic diseases cause the ovary to stop functioning earlier, or are the chronic diseases the result of the ovary ‘timing out’ earlier?”

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