RELATION BETWEEN AGE AT MENOPAUSE, REPRODUCTIVE LIFE SPAN AND TYPE 2 DIABETES.

Background: The aims of this study are to (1) shed light on the temporal relation between development of menopause and development of type 2 diabetes. (2) Clarify whether early menopause and short reproductive life span could be considered as novel risk factor for type 2 diabetes. (3) Decide whether type 2 diabetes is to be considered a cause and /or a sequel of early menopause and short reproductive life span. Subjects and Methods: This study was conducted on four hundred post menopausal women. Their ages? range was (40-87y) with average mean (59.28?9.01y), a questionnaire was done to every subject including reproductive factors, baseline characteristics, and laboratory investigations. Results: our study was on postmenopausal women. Their ages at menopause were (31-63) with mean average (47.73?5.02). The prevalence of diabetes in post menopausal women was 38%. There was a significant association between hyperglycemia and duration of menopausal status after adjustment for age and other risk factors of diabetes with p < .001 & OR 1.04 . But no association was found between neither age at menopause nor reproductive life span and the development of diabetes with p value 0.56, 0.92 respectively. There was a significant association between waist circumference and risk of developing diabetes in post menopausal women with p value .009 & OR .001. No significant association between hysterectomy and risk of type 2 diabetes with p value 1. There was no significant association between HRT & diabetes with p value .6. However, there was a significant association between OCP and the risk of diabetes with p value .02 .There was a significant association between gravidity and risk of diabetes with p .002 but not with parity with p value .16. Conclusion: There was association between the duration of menopause and development of type 2 diabetes. Waist circumference representing central adipose tissue playing the major role in risk of diabetes in postmenopausal women.