Protein Biomarkers of Early Menopause and Incident Cardiovascular Disease

• Published in: Journal of the American Heart Association 2023-08, Vol.12 (16), p.e028849-e028849
• Main Authors: Ramirez, Mariana F, Honigberg, Michael, Wang, Dongyu, Parekh, Juhi K, Bielawski, Kamila, Courchesne, Paul, Larson, Martin D, Levy, Daniel, Murabito, Joanne M, Ho, Jennifer E, Lau, Emily S
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: biomarkers; early menopause; Original Research; women's health
• ISSN: 2047-9980; 2047-9980
• DOI: 10.1161/JAHA.122.028849

Background Premature and early menopause are independently associated with greater risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, mechanisms linking age of menopause with CVD remain poorly characterized. Methods and Results We measured 71 circulating CVD protein biomarkers in 1565 postmenopausal women enrolled in the FHS (Framingham Heart Study). We examined the association of early menopause with biomarkers and tested whether early menopause modified the association of biomarkers with incident cardiovascular outcomes (heart failure, major CVD, and all-cause death) using multivariable-adjusted linear regression and Cox models, respectively. Among 1565 postmenopausal women included (mean age 62 years), 395 (25%) had a history of early menopause. Of 71 biomarkers examined, we identified 7 biomarkers that were significantly associated with early menopause, of which 5 were higher in women with early menopause including adrenomedullin and resistin, and 2 were higher in women without early menopause including insulin growth factor-1 and CNTN1 (contactin-1) (Benjamini-Hochberg adjusted