A later menopausal age is associated with a lower prevalence of physical frailty in community-dwelling older adults: The Korean Frailty and Aging Cohort Study (KFACS). (November 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lee, Y.; Kim, S.; Kim, M.; Kim, B.S.; Jeong, E.; Shim, H.; Won, C.W.
• Is Part Of: Archives of gerontology and geriatrics. Volume 91(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-11
• Subjects: Frailty -- Korean -- Menopause -- Elderly; Aging -- Periodicals; Geriatrics -- Periodicals; Gerontology -- Periodicals; Electronic journals; 305.26
• DOI: 10.1016/j.archger.2020.104243
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0167-4943

Abstract

Highlights: Later menopausal age is associated with a lower risk of frailty. The highest quartile of reproductive span is associated with a lower prevalence of frailty compared to the first quartile. The prevalence of frailty decreased by 5.0 % with every year increase of age at menopause. Abstract: Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine whether age at menopause is associated with physical frailty. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study that included 1264 women (70–84 years) from the Korean and Aging Cohort Study (KFACS) who had records of their ages at menarche and their ages at menopause and had experienced a natural menopause. We used Fried criteria to assess physical frailty status. The ages at menopause and menarche were collected using self-reported questionnaires. Results: The prevalence of physical frailty decreased by 5.3 % with each year of increase in age at menopause after adjusting for age, marital status, years of education, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, polypharmacy, hospitalizations, falls, and hormone replacement therapy (p = 0.005). The prevalence of frailty significantly decreased by 4.1 % when the reproductive span increased by a year (p = 0.019). Conclusions: This study found that a later menopausal age was associated with a lower risk of frailty using Fried criteria. In addition, it showed that a longer reproductive span was associated with a lower prevalence of frailty.