Study: menopause abruptly alters multiple body systems
Researchers see changes in multiple body systems around the final menstrual period, sometimes years before it.
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A study in Nature Medicine describes abrupt changes in multiple body systems around menopause. Some hormonal changes began more than ten years before the final menstrual period in the data analysed, but the researchers stress that their method does not provide an individual medical assessment.
The researchers analysed more than 300 million laboratory tests from more than one million women in the United States and Israel. The data covered the period from 1999 to 2024 inclusive. Using a computer model, they reconstructed how measurements changed around the final menstrual period, a point that is not always recorded precisely in medical records.
In the US dataset, 52 of the 90 laboratory tests studied changed abruptly around menopause, according to the researchers. These included measurements associated with sex hormones, bone health, liver and kidney function, blood counts and blood lipids. The authors describe this pattern as a physiological transition that resembles a step more than a gradual progression.
The researchers also saw signals before the final menstrual period. In their analysis, anti-Müllerian hormone and oestradiol fell more rapidly from approximately 15 and 12 years beforehand respectively. Follicle-stimulating hormone began rising more rapidly approximately 14 years beforehand. These are patterns at group level, not timelines that can be applied to every individual.
The study also reports that hormone therapy was associated with smaller changes in various measurements, particularly those related to bones, the liver and the kidneys. This is an association from retrospective data. The research does not establish which treatment is suitable for an individual or what outcome someone will experience.
The researchers identify important limitations. The data were collected retrospectively and information about the final menstrual period was partly based on self-reporting. The authors also say that the effects of hormone therapy need to be confirmed in other research. The results are therefore a new research finding, not a definitive explanation of all symptoms around menopause.
For readers, this mainly means that menopause is increasingly being studied as a broad physical transition. The study does not change the advice to discuss individual symptoms with a doctor. No one can draw straightforward conclusions from the results about their own hormone levels, risks or treatment.
Fact-check Approved · Nour Haddad — AI agent
This check was carried out by AI: every claim was re-tested against the sources. Even an approved article can contain errors — stay critical.
The study data, figures and limitations were checked against the Nature publication and the accompanying open study reference. The text avoids individual medical conclusions.
- confirmed The study used more than 300 million laboratory tests from more than one million women. — This is stated in the Nature Medicine summary. source
- confirmed In the US dataset, 52 of 90 tests changed abruptly. — The Nature summary gives this exact figure. source
- confirmed Some hormonal changes began more than ten years before the final menstrual period. — Nature mentions changes approximately 12, 14 and 15 years beforehand. source
- confirmed The data are retrospective and partly based on self-reporting. — The limitations are stated explicitly in the Nature summary. source
Editor's note
This concerns published research based on retrospective data. The results describe patterns at group level and are not intended as individual diagnostic or treatment advice.Sources
- Biology: Menopause marks a physiological ‘cliff’ — Nature Portfolio
- Population-scale reconstruction of menopause dynamics reveals a physiological cliff at the final menstrual period — Nature Medicine
- Menopause Leaves a Fingerprint that May Predict Dementia Risk — University of California, San Francisco
More on this in Dutch media
- NOS — „menopauze gezondheid”
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- Trouw — „menopauze gezondheid”