Association between exposure to air pollution and age at natural menopause: the Study of Women's Health across the nation
Authors' conclusion
The approximately one-year earlier ANM among women exposed to the highest quartile of NO2 and O3 is comparable to the 0.8-year earlier menopause observed in current smokers relative to never smokers.
Study context
- Population
- Midlife women aged 45–56 years from five racial/ethnic groups in SWAN, six U.S sites (1999–2015), excluding hysterectomy or oophorectomy or reproductive hormone use at baseline
- Participants
- 1,457 women
- Exposure
- Highest vs lowest quartile of exposure to ambient air pollution
- Outcome
- Age at natural menopause (ANM), as time-to-event
Methodological detailsmulticentre (six U.S sites), accelerated failure time models
- Multicentre (six U.S sites)
- Accelerated failure time models
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Age at natural menopause
TR (NO2)
0.983
95% CI 0.971–0.995P for trend = 0.04
Highest quartile
TR (O3)
0.983
95% CI 0.971–0.996P for trend = 0.004
Highest quartile
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Original publication
Association between exposure to air pollution and age at natural menopause: the Study of Women's Health across the nation. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. Published 18 August 2026. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →