Is rapid transition through menopause linked to earlier onset of heart disease?
An evaluation of 203 women as part of the multifaceted Los Angeles Atherosclerosis Study (LAAS) found that those who transitioned more quickly through menopause were at increased risk for a higher rate of progression of ‘preclinical atherosclerosis’ – narrowing of arteries caused by the thickening of their walls. Cardiologist C. Noel Bairey Merz, M.D., is principal investigator of the study. She is director of the Women’s Heart Centre and the Preventive and Rehabilitative Cardiac Centre at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute. She serves as professor of medicine at Cedars-Sinai and holds the Women’s Guild Endowed Chair in Women’s Health. This observational study included 203 women between ages 45 and 60 at the time they entered the study. Fifty-two were premenopausal, 20 were perimenopausal and 131 were postmenopausal. None of the women had been diagnosed with cardiovascular disease. They were evaluated when they entered the study and at two 18-month intervals, providing a snapshot over a
