Understanding the terms we use:support for using ‘Sexually Shared Microbiota’(SSM)

Objective: To examine the association between age at period cessation (by type of period cessation) and trajectories of anthropometry, blood pressure, lipids and HBA1c from midlife to age 70 years. Methods: We used data from the UK Medical Research Council National Survey of Health and Development (NSHD) to examine the association between age at period cessation and trajectories of triglyceride, low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c) and glycated haemoglobin (HBA1c) from 53 to 69 years and measures of systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) from 36 to 69 years. Results: We found no evidence that age at period cessation was associated with trajectories of log triglyceride, LDL-c and HDL-c from 53 to 69 years and trajectories of SBP or DBP from 36 to 69 years, regardless of whether period cessation occurred naturally or due to hysterectomy. While we found some evidence of associations of age at period cessation with log BMI, log WC and log HBA1C, patterns were not consistent and differences were small at age 69 years, with confidence intervals that spanned the null. Conclusion: How and when women experience period cessation is unlikely to adversely affect conventional cardiovascular risk factors across mid and later life. Women and clinicians concerned about the impact of type and timing of period cessation on conventional cardiovascular intermediates from midlife should be reassured that the impacts over the long term are small.