Association of alcohol consumption with the onset of natural menopause: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background Early onset of menopause is associated with long-term health risks, including cardiovascular disease and premature death. Although alcohol intake has been suggested to affect the age at which natural menopause occurs, results from observational studies are not consistent. Objective and rationale In the view of the differing risks to the health of early menopause and the increasing trends in alcohol consumption in women, in this systematic review, we aimed to quantify the association between all levels of alcohol consumption and menopause onset. Search methods Six electronic databases (Medline, Embase, Cochrane, PubMed, Google Scholar and Web of Science) were systematically searched until 4 November 2015 to identify relevant studies assessing the association between alcohol consumption and onset of menopause. Two independent reviewers screened the titles and abstracts of all initially identified studies according to the selection criteria. Studies were sought if they (i) were observational cross-sectional, prospective and interventional studies, (ii) had reported on natural onset of menopause, (iii) had reported on alcohol consumption, (iv) had assessed the association between alcohol consumption and menopause onset, (v) were conducted in humans and (vi) were not conducted in patients with cancer. Data were extracted by two independent reviewers using a predesigned data-collection form. The primary exposure variable was the presence of active alcohol drinking...
Source: Human Reproduction Update - Category: OBGYN Authors: Tags: Review Source Type: research