Is age at menarche associated with total mortality? The Tromsø Study.

Purpose: Early age at menarche (AAM) has been associated with increased mortality and morbidity, including premature death from all causes, breast cancer and cardiovascular diseases. The aim of this study was to examine the association between AAM and all-cause mortality.

Subjects and methods: A total of 12,409 women aged 25-94 years who took part in the fourth Tromsø Study in Norway during 1994-1995 were included in this prospective population-based study with a mean 18.7 years of follow-up. Multivariate Cox proportional hazard analysis was used to investigate the association between AAM and all-cause mortality with adjustment for known confounders (age, body mass index, physical activity, level of education and smoking history).

Results: During the 18.7 years of follow-up, a total of 2,203 women died. There was no association between AAM and all-cause mortality before or after adjusting for possible confounding factors.

Conclusion: This prospective study of 12,409 women did not find any association between AAM and all-cause mortality.