Does having late menopause increase the risk of breast cancer?
It seems that if.
Theage average at which themenopauseis around the50 years, and now new research has found that,after 50, each year that the onset of menopause increases the risk of breast cancer by 6%.
What happens after 50?
If on average a woman has a 12.5% chance of developing breast cancer during her lifetime, if the menopause begins at age 55, the odds of breast cancer rises to 15.7%.
After 50 years,each year that the onset of menopause increases the risk of breast cancer by 6%.
Delayed menopause increases a woman's exposure to estrogens
The study examined the DNA of almost 70,000 European women, and identified44 genesrelated totime of menopause in the life of a woman.
Most of the genes do they work repairing damaged sections of egg DNA of a woman, to keep them healthy. If thegenes are faulty, the oocytes can perish,accelerate the onset of menopause.
Learning more about how these genes work could allow us to developdrugsthat guaranteekeep the oocytes in good health. Soavoid that women go through aearly menopause, and evendelay it, which allowed them to delay motherhood.
Some kind of genetic test could also be developed that would allowpredict the date of menopause of a woman.
Day F, Ruth KS, Thompson DJ, Lunetta KL, Pervjakova N, Chasman DI, et al. Nature Genetics (2015). More information.
Related Reading:
- Late menopause what causes it?
- At what age does menopause usually arrive?
- Early menopause
