Going through menopause later may confer health benefits, including improved bone strength, a lower risk of heart disease, and more years before other effects of low estrogen, like memory issues, low libido, and reduced urinary control, kick in. But research also shows that having more menstrual cycles throughout your lifetime could increase your risk of certain cancers.
“Women who have a late menopause, after age 55, have a higher risk of breast and uterine cancer. This is because they are exposed to estrogen for a longer time, which can fuel these cancers,” states Dr. Pinkerton. Their risk of ovarian cancer is also a bit higher, possibly because they have had more ovulation cycles.”
During a woman’s menstrual cycle, her uterus and breast tissue have more exposure to estrogen. And more menstrual cycles throughout a woman’s life means more estrogen exposure, which could contribute to cancer risk.
For example, women who start their periods before 11 years of age have a risk of breast cancer that’s between 15 and 20 percent higher than those who start their periods at 15 years of age or higher. And in a pooled analysis of data from 400,000 women, for every year older a woman was when she she reached menopause, her breast cancer went up by around 3 percent.
However, according to one study, the risk of gynecological cancers, such as ovarian and cervical cancer, increases the earlier a woman starts to go through menopause. Women who went through menopause at the average age (50 to 55 years) had the lowest cancer risks, whereas those with a higher risk went through menopause in their thirties, which clinicians consider to be abnormal. This means that other processes might be contributing to increased cancer risk in instances of early ovarian insufficiency.
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