Hot News Flash: Menopause Can Impact a Woman’s Heart Health

Since 1924, the American Heart Association has been fighting heart disease and stroke and helping people to live longer, healthier lives. Our local AHA shares ways that you can stay healthy, get involved and help raise awareness right here in NEPA.

The risk of heart disease increases with age for most people, however, for women that may be even more true.

The menopause transition, those years leading up to and through menopause, is a time of increasing heart disease risk, according to a recent American Heart Association scientific statement.

Heart disease kills more people than all cancers combined. One in 39 women in the U.S. dies from breast cancer each year, while 1 in 3 dies from cardiovascular disease – that’s roughly one death each minute.

Women face unique risks related to cardiovascular health at every stage of life, the years before and after menopause are a critical time to be aware of and address the increased risks related to heart disease and stroke.

A number of studies presented at the American Heart Association’s scientific meetings or published in the Association’s medical journals note the increased risk of cardiovascular disease and other health complications during various stages of menopause:

After menopause an estimated 1 in 4 women may develop irregular heart rhythms – known as atrial fibrillation– in their lifetime, with stressful life events and insomnia being major contributing factors, according to one study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association (JAHA).
Another JAHA study found that obesity significantly increased heart failure risk among women who experienced late menopause – at age 55 or older,
A study presented at the Association’s 2022 Epidemiology, Prevention, Lifestyle & Cardiometabolic Health Conference (EPI), found that women who naturally entered menopause by the age of 40 had a 40% increased risk of developing coronary heart disease over their lifetime, compared to women who did not go through early menopause.
A separate study presented at the 2021 EPI meeting found that women who experience very early menopause were 35% more likely to develop some type of dementia later in life, compared with women who enter menopause around age 50.
Another 2021 EPI meeting study found that social isolation and loneliness may increase cardiovascular disease risk by 29% in post-menopausal women.

Menopause does not cause cardiovascular disease; however, during the menopausal transition women experience many changes in their bodies, including some that can impact their cardiovascular health: