Table 1.
Characteristics of 600 women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) according to presence or absence of early menopause.
|
No early
menopause (N=521) |
Early
menopause* (N=79) |
p value | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mean age at index date, years (SD) | 63.6 (11.7) | 61.4 (11.0) | 0.195 |
| Mean age at menopause, years (SD) | 50.7 (2.8) | 40.9 (5.0) | <0.001 |
| Rheumatoid factor positivity | 331 (66) | 50 (66%) | 0.97 |
| Erythrocyte sedimentation rate at RA incidence, mm/hr |
33.9 (24.6) | 31.7 (24.5) | 0.36 |
| Presence of rheumatoid nodules in the first year after RA incidence (%) |
70 (13%) | 19 (24%) | 0.013 |
| Presence of erosions on radiographs in the first year after RA incidence (%) |
159 (30%) | 21 (27%) | 0.48 |
| Mean length of follow-up, years (SD) | 11.9 (8.9) | 11.0 (8.1) | -- |
| Natural menopause (%)** | 474 (93) | 46 (58) | <0.001 |
| Artificial menopause (%)** | 31 (6) | 33 (42) | <0.001 |
| Type of artificial menopause | 0.034 | ||
| Still menstruating (%) | 5 (14) | 0 (0.0) | |
| Hysterectomy/bilateral oophorectomy (%) | 24 (67) | 27 (82) | |
| Bilateral oophorectomy (%) | 2 (6) | 2 (6) | |
| Radiation (%) | 4 (11) | 0 (0.0) | |
| Chemical (%) | 1 (3) | 1 (3) | |
| Other (%) | 0 (0.0) | 3 (9) | |
| Mean gravidity (SD) | 3.1 (2.5) | 2.8 (2.6) | 0.392 |
| Mean parity (SD) | 2.6 (2.2) | 2.4 (2.1) | 0.568 |
| Any pregnancy or live birth (%) | 424 (81) | 61 (77) | 0.381 |
| Mean age at menarche (SD) | 13.0 (1.3) | 13.0 (1.5) | 0.470 |
| Hormone replacement therapy before RA incidence (%) |
144 (28) | 31 (39) | 0.035 |
*
Early menopause was defined as natural or artificial menopause at age ≤ 45 years.
**
The difference between the natural menopause and the artificial menopause variables is the 5 patients who are still menstruating at RA incidence.