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Cardiovascular disease is the major cause of mortality in women worldwide. In recent years, several female-specific cardiovascular risk factors, such as hypertensive pregnancy diseases (HPDs) and vasomotor menopausal symptoms (VMS), have been identified. In this study, we evaluated the association between a history of HPD and the presence of VMS.

This study aims to identify social, lifestyle, and reproductive history risk factors for night sweats (NS) only, hot flushes (HF) only, and both NS and HF.

Emerging evidence suggests that women with vasomotor menopausal symptoms (VMS) may have an adverse cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk profile. We investigated whether VMS are related to an increased risk of future coronary heart disease (CHD) and whether possible associations can be explained by CVD risk factors.

The severity of vasomotor symptoms has been hypothesized to be linked to a lower bone mineral density (BMD). We examined whether women with vasomotor symptoms are different from women without symptoms with regard to BMD.

Earlier menopause is associated with a higher incidence of cardiovascular events later in life. Concurrent with the ages of menopausal transition, a shift in lipid profile takes place. Premature ovarian failure (POF) or premature menopause allows us to study the effect of cessation of ovarian function on the lipid profile independent of effects of advanced chronological age.

Metabolic disturbances may explain the increased cardiovascular risk associated with reproductive factors. This cohort study investigated the relationship between reproductive factors and coronary artery calcification in elderly women and whether this relationship could be explained by metabolic disturbances.

In this study we attempted to confirm recent findings suggesting that age at natural menopause might be affected by single nucleotide polymorphisms in certain cardiovascular risk factor genes, such as genes encoding for blood clotting factors II, V, and VII and the apolipoprotein E2 gene. Such validation might increase support for the theory that ovarian aging is partly due to aging of the vascular supply to the ovary.

Few studies have investigated the relationships between body composition, functional ability, and age-related disability in postmenopausal women. We investigated the relative role of fat mass, lean mass, and muscle strength in the development of disability in a group of healthy postmenopausal women younger than 75 years.

Loss of ovarian function and subsequent deficiency of endogenous estrogens is suggested to enhance cardiovascular disease risk and related death after menopause. The aim was to obtain valid estimates of the cardiovascular disease risk associated with postmenopausal status and early menopause.

Despite biological plausibility, relationships between menopause and cognitive function are inconsistent. We investigated whether menopause status and menopause age were associated with general cognitive ability, verbal memory, and visual search speed and concentration in a large cohort of women while considering vasomotor and psychological symptoms, previous childhood and adult measures of cognitive function, lifetime socioeconomic circumstances, educational attainment, lifestyle factors, and chronic diseases.

Postmenopausal estrogen decline is implicated in several age-related physical and psychological changes in women, including decreases in perceived quality of life (QoL). A number of trials with hormone therapy showed beneficial effects of the intervention on parameters of quality of life. However, because of known or suspected serious side-effects of conventional hormone therapy there is a need for alternatives.

Whereas observational data for postmenopausal women using hormone therapy (HT) have shown a protective effect against cardiovascular disease, prospective, randomized trials have demonstrated a harmful effect on the vascular system.

Smoking is consistently associated with a younger age for menopause. Although this may be because of the direct toxic effects of tobacco smoke on follicles, we hypothesize that there may also be a relationship between smoking and a vascular origin of early menopausal onset. Several lifestyle factors have been investigated, but never factors of the clotting cascade. The objective of this study, then, was to determine the effect of factor V Leiden mutation and smoking with respect to age at menopause.