The Relationship between Menopausal Age and the Incidence of Chronic Kidney Disease in Postmenopausal Women: A Population-based Longitudinal Study

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is one of the most debilitating non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Since the incidence of NCDs increases after menopause, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between menopausal age and CKD incidence among menopausal women.

This study was performed longitudinally, and the subjects were selected from among 3697 postmenopausal women participating in the Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study. Among the subjects, those whose menopausal age and chronic kidney disease information were not recorded and who had chronic kidney disease before the study were excluded. Finally, 2,080 postmenopausal women remained in the study. The Cox regression model was used for data analysis.

By the end of the study, CKD occurred in 1351 menopausal women. The overall mean age of menopause was reported at 49.9±5.0. The mean age of menopause was 50±0.5 years in the patients and 49.7±5.0 years in others. After modifying the extraneous variables, the results showed that every year increase of age at menopause increased the incidence of CKD by 10% after menopause, with the hazard ratio of 1.10 and the confidence interval of 95% (1.07-1.13).

Menopausal age is directly related to the incidence of chronic kidney disease after menopause. Given the importance of CKD in reducing the quality of life and increasing mortality in patients, special attention should be paid to women of higher menopausal age in screening programs related to CKD.