Genetics play an important role in determining the age of menopause and overall lifespan

The focus of the study was to identify new variants associated with delayed menopause

If you want to know why you go through menopause earlier or later than other women, blame your mother. This is because many studies have confirmed the role of genetics in determining the age at which women reach menopause. A new study not only confirms this link, but also suggests a link with family longevity. The findings are published today in the journal menopause.

The age of menopause is clinically defined as one year after the last menstrual period, with an average age of about 52 years. However, thousands of women do better than this statistic each year, entering menopause later in life, while many others naturally enter menopause earlier.

Although menopause can occur earlier for a variety of reasons, including smoking, chemotherapy and increased body mass index, it is generally believed that the age of menopause is most affected by family history. So, if your mother went through menopause very early in life, it's very likely that you will also start to change early in life.

The goal of the new study, which focuses on reproductive life, is to identify genetic variations associated with delayed menopause based on family lifespan. The findings are based on a meta-analysis of several large studies, including the long-lived families study, the health and retirement study and the framingham heart study. These studies found that women who were able to have children over 40 years older were four times as likely to live to 100 or older on average, and women who had children over 35 were 1.5 times as likely to live over 100 years.

In this study, researchers conducted a meta-analysis of menopausal age-related genetic variations in women who eventually lived to a very old age. The results provide further evidence for the genetic basis of menopausal age. In addition, the discovery of new variants suggests that the genetic mechanism of menopausal age may be linked to human longevity.

The findings are published in the journal Genetic associations with age of in family longevity.

"Studies have found that genetic variations associated with late menopause are associated with longer life. Although early menarche and longer childbearing years were not associated with a slower rate of aging, a later menopause (greater reproductive potential) seemed to be associated with a slower rate of aging.