Age of natural menopause among women in Mexico City.

OBJECTIVES

The average age of menopause among women in Mexico City was calculated, considering their reproductive and socio-demographic characteristics. The information was obtained from a population-based control group from a case-controlled study of gynecologic cancer.

METHODS

Interviews were carried out with 1005 women resident in Mexico City chosen at random from a sample using the housing sample framework of the Mexico General Directorate of Epidemiology, 472 of whom had undergone a natural menopause.

RESULTS

The most important results include an average age for menopause in this population of 46.5 +/- 5 years (95% C.I. 46-48) with a median of 47. Groups of women with an average early menopause were those with no formal education (1.6 years), low socio-economic level (1.3 years, P < 0.05), nulliparas (2.6 years, P < 0.05), those who had never breastfed (2.2 years, P < 0.05) and those who had not used contraceptive hormones (1.7 years, P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

This phenomenon must be documented in Mexico because of its strong links with the morbidity and mortality of the growing number of women who are reaching advanced ages and whose survival is calculated at 30 years after menopause.