Relationship between age at last delivery and age at menopause: The Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

OBJECTIVE: We used data from the 2010 to 2012 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys to investigate whether the age at menopause is related to age at last delivery.

METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study of the data for 714 women who became menopausal within the 3 years preceding the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

RESULTS: Smoking, exercise, drink, educational level, and income were adjusted in model 1, and the mean ages at menopause were 50.5±0.3, 51.2±0.2, 51.2±0.3, and 50.2±0.4 years for women with <25, ≥25 and <30, ≥30 and <35, ≥35 years age at last delivery, respectively (P=0.049). Smoking, exercise, drink, educational level, income, age at first delivery, age at last delivery, and gravidity were adjusted in model 2, and the respective mean ages at menopause were 50.5±0.5, 50.7±0.4, 50.3±0.4, and 49.2±0.5 years (P=0.03). In both models, older age at last delivery showed higher age at menopause compared with women with younger age at last delivery.

CONCLUSION: Korean women with older age at last delivery were associated with younger age at menopause. Increased number of pregnancies was related to older age at menopause.