Dam V, et al. - Given the correlation between earlier age at menopause and increased risk of coronary heart disease (CHD), researchers investigated how menopausal characteristics are associated with CHD risk. They determined the shape of the association between age at menopause and CHD risk and the extent to which established cardiovascular risk factors explain these associations. They analyzed data obtained from women only who participated in the large pan-European prospective case-cohort EPIC-CVD study. Of these women, 10,880 comprise the randomly selected sub-cohort, supplemented with 4,522 participants outside the sub-cohort. Outcomes revealed higher CHD risk in correlation with earlier and surgical menopause. Differences in conventional cardiovascular risk factors could partly explain these associations. Close monitoring of cardiovascular risk factors and disease might benefit these women.