Medically Reviewed by W. Brad Campbell, MD

Menopause and diabetes constitute a close relationship to your health – if you experience menopause too early or too late – or have diabetes before menopause. Let’s try to unravel this a bit.

“We’ve known for some time of a connection between diabetes and menopause (after a women’s last period),” says McLeod OB/GYN Brad Campbell, MD. “Recent research paints a much clearer picture of what you can expect.”

A study released in July 2016 revealed that women who experience “early” menopause (before age 46) have a 25% greater likelihood of type 2 diabetes than women experiencing menopause between ages 46 to 55. Women who don’t hit menopause until after age 55 – “late” menopause – have a 12% higher risk of type 2 diabetes. In this country, the average age that women reach menopause is 51.

Although the exact cause isn’t clear, researchers believe diabetes may be related to the drop in estrogen in a woman’s body after she no longer has periods. This drop links to decreased metabolism along with increased appetite and body fat. A link to high-blood sugar also occurs, possibly a forerunner of diabetes.

Another timing-related issue for menopause and diabetes focuses on the “lifetime reproductive cycle” – the time from your first period to your last. If your lifetime reproductive cycle is less than 30 years, you have a 37% higher risk of diabetes, than women with a reproductive cycle of 36 to 40 years. A lifetime reproductive cycle longer than 45 years means a 23% increased risk of diabetes.

This earlier study also found other links to diabetes, including:

• 87% increased risk with high blood pressure and
• 57% increased risk for obesity, defined as a Body Mass Index (BMI) of more than 30. To find out your BMI, click here.

ACTION YOU CAN TAKE
You have little control over when you experience menopause. Yet, here are actions you can take to reduce your risk of diabetes:

• Exercise. Start slow. Work up to 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week.
• Eat a healthy diet.
• Control your weight.

Find a Gynecologist near you.

Sources include: McLeod Health, Women’s Health American Menopause Society, Climacteric, Women’s Health Initiative