The age at natural menopause of Chinese Han and Tibetan women

BackgroundStudies have reported that the age at natural menopause may vary between different ethnic groups. Chinese Han and Tibetan women exhibit substantial differences in their living environment, dietary habits, and lifestyle; however, few studies have specifically investigated the potential diff...

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Main Authors: Shiqi Chen, Liangbo Yang, Furui Chen, Yu Qiu, Jing Zhang, Jesse Li Ling, Qiaolan Liu, Yan Gong
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2025-08-01
Series:Frontiers in Endocrinology
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Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fendo.2025.1584267/full
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author Shiqi Chen
Liangbo Yang
Furui Chen
Furui Chen
Yu Qiu
Yu Qiu
Jing Zhang
Jesse Li Ling
Qiaolan Liu
Yan Gong
author_facet Shiqi Chen
Liangbo Yang
Furui Chen
Furui Chen
Yu Qiu
Yu Qiu
Jing Zhang
Jesse Li Ling
Qiaolan Liu
Yan Gong
author_sort Shiqi Chen
collection DOAJ
description BackgroundStudies have reported that the age at natural menopause may vary between different ethnic groups. Chinese Han and Tibetan women exhibit substantial differences in their living environment, dietary habits, and lifestyle; however, few studies have specifically investigated the potential differences in their age at natural menopause. This study was designed to identify the discrepancy in the age at natural menopause between postmenopausal women of Chinese Han and Tibetan ethnicities.MethodsA cross-section study has been conducted on 5,562 Han and 1,049 Tibetan postmenopausal women who were recruited by the China Multi-ethnic Cohort study from May 2018 to September 2019. The participants have resided in Chengdu City and Aba Prefecture, respectively, with ethnicity set as the primary exposure variable. Linear and multinomial logistic regression model was used to assess the association of the age at natural menopause with influencing factors and odds ratios for the association between premature ovarian failure, early and late menopause with the ethnicity, and influencing factors.ResultsThe mean age at natural menopause of Han women was 0.74 year earlier than Tibetan women (P = 0.003). The Han women also showed a lower likelihood for experiencing late menopause with an adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence intervals) of 0.54 (0.34, 0.88) compared with the Tibetan women. Factors associated with later menopause have included older age at survey, ever married, high school and above educational level, annual household income of ≥200,000 RMB, no smoking, habit of eating spicy food, no history of severe food shortage, more gravidity, less parity, use of intrauterine device, and no history of using oral contraceptives.ConclusionsThe age at natural menopause of Chinese Han women was earlier than that of Chinese Tibetan women. Demographic, lifestyle, dietary habits, and reproductive factors may influence the age at natural menopause.
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spelling doaj-art-2581dfdf82e646198811ec1ca7eecc4e2025-08-20T03:16:24ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Endocrinology1664-23922025-08-011610.3389/fendo.2025.15842671584267The age at natural menopause of Chinese Han and Tibetan womenShiqi Chen0Liangbo Yang1Furui Chen2Furui Chen3Yu Qiu4Yu Qiu5Jing Zhang6Jesse Li Ling7Qiaolan Liu8Yan Gong9Department of Obstetrics, Sichuan Provincial Women’s and Children’s Hospital, The Affiliated Women’s and Children’s Hospital of Chengdu Medical College, Chengdu, Sichuan, ChinaDepartment of Reproductive Medicine, Sichuan Jinxin Xinan Women and Children’s Hospital, Chengdu, Sichuan, ChinaReproductive Medicine Center, Sichuan Provincial Women’s and Children’s Hospital, The Affiliated Women’s and Children’s Hospital of Chengdu Medical College, Chengdu, Sichuan, ChinaSchool of Clinical Medicine, Chengdu Medical College, Chengdu, Sichuan, ChinaReproductive Medicine Center, Sichuan Provincial Women’s and Children’s Hospital, The Affiliated Women’s and Children’s Hospital of Chengdu Medical College, Chengdu, Sichuan, ChinaSchool of Clinical Medicine, Chengdu Medical College, Chengdu, Sichuan, ChinaReproductive Endocrinology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, ChinaCenter of Medical Genetics, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, ChinaWest China School of Public Health and West China Fourth Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, ChinaReproductive Medicine Center, Sichuan Provincial Women’s and Children’s Hospital, The Affiliated Women’s and Children’s Hospital of Chengdu Medical College, Chengdu, Sichuan, ChinaBackgroundStudies have reported that the age at natural menopause may vary between different ethnic groups. Chinese Han and Tibetan women exhibit substantial differences in their living environment, dietary habits, and lifestyle; however, few studies have specifically investigated the potential differences in their age at natural menopause. This study was designed to identify the discrepancy in the age at natural menopause between postmenopausal women of Chinese Han and Tibetan ethnicities.MethodsA cross-section study has been conducted on 5,562 Han and 1,049 Tibetan postmenopausal women who were recruited by the China Multi-ethnic Cohort study from May 2018 to September 2019. The participants have resided in Chengdu City and Aba Prefecture, respectively, with ethnicity set as the primary exposure variable. Linear and multinomial logistic regression model was used to assess the association of the age at natural menopause with influencing factors and odds ratios for the association between premature ovarian failure, early and late menopause with the ethnicity, and influencing factors.ResultsThe mean age at natural menopause of Han women was 0.74 year earlier than Tibetan women (P = 0.003). The Han women also showed a lower likelihood for experiencing late menopause with an adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence intervals) of 0.54 (0.34, 0.88) compared with the Tibetan women. Factors associated with later menopause have included older age at survey, ever married, high school and above educational level, annual household income of ≥200,000 RMB, no smoking, habit of eating spicy food, no history of severe food shortage, more gravidity, less parity, use of intrauterine device, and no history of using oral contraceptives.ConclusionsThe age at natural menopause of Chinese Han women was earlier than that of Chinese Tibetan women. Demographic, lifestyle, dietary habits, and reproductive factors may influence the age at natural menopause.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fendo.2025.1584267/fullethnicityChinese HanChinese Tibetanpostmenopausalage at natural menopause
spellingShingle Shiqi Chen
Liangbo Yang
Furui Chen
Furui Chen
Yu Qiu
Yu Qiu
Jing Zhang
Jesse Li Ling
Qiaolan Liu
Yan Gong
The age at natural menopause of Chinese Han and Tibetan women
Frontiers in Endocrinology
ethnicity
Chinese Han
Chinese Tibetan
postmenopausal
age at natural menopause
title The age at natural menopause of Chinese Han and Tibetan women
title_full The age at natural menopause of Chinese Han and Tibetan women
title_fullStr The age at natural menopause of Chinese Han and Tibetan women
title_full_unstemmed The age at natural menopause of Chinese Han and Tibetan women
title_short The age at natural menopause of Chinese Han and Tibetan women
title_sort age at natural menopause of chinese han and tibetan women
topic ethnicity
Chinese Han
Chinese Tibetan
postmenopausal
age at natural menopause
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fendo.2025.1584267/full
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