In Choi J, et al. – This article was written with the objective to investigate whether the age at menopause is related to alcohol consumption in South Korean women. For this research, authors utilized information from the 2011–2014 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (KNHANES). In Korean women, alcohol intake was related to younger age at menopause. A higher Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) score was also identified with younger age at menopause.

Methods

• For this research, they conducted a cross–sectional study.
• In this study, they research the data for 940 women who became menopausal within the 3 years preceding the KNHANES.

Results

• They found numbers of nondrinkers, mild to moderate drinkers, and heavy drinkers in this group were 345 (34.7%), 573 (62.2%), and 22 (3%).
• Body mass index (BMI), smoking, and exercise were adjusted in model 1 and age was additionally adjusted in model 2.
• The mean ages at menopause were 51.6 ± 0.2, 50.8 ± 0.1, and 50.4 ± 0.5 years (p = 0.0025) in model 1 and 51.7 ± 0.2, 51.1 ± 0.1, and 50.1 ± 0.5 years (p = 0.0018) in model 2 for nondrinkers, mild to moderate drinkers, and heavy drinkers, respectively.
• BMI, smoking, exercise, educational level, income, duration of menopause, age at menarche, age at first delivery, and gravidity were adjusted in model 3, and the respective mean ages at menopause were 51.3 ± 0.2, 50.7 ± 0.2, and 50.1 ± 0.8 years (p = 0.0402).
• The population was classified into groups utilizing the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) scores of <5 (n = 778), <10 (n = 108), and ≥10 score (n = 54).
• The mean ages at menopause according to AUDIT score were 51.3 ± 0.1, 50.5 ± 0.3, and 50.4 ± 0.4 years (p = 0.0222, model 1), 51.4 ± 0.1, 50.8 ± 0.3, and 50.8 ± 0.3 years (p = 0.0261, model 2), and 51.1 ± 0.1, 50.6 ± 0.4, and 49.5 ± 0.6 years (p = 0.0241, model 3) respectively.