Early ageing of ovary: A future health problem?

A large cohort study that was presented at the 2020 ESHRE Meeting suggested that early ovarian ageing may be predictive of later health problems.

Few oocytes in Assisted Reproductive Technology (Art) were harvested from young women with premature ovarian ageing and were discovered to have a much higher risk of age-related diseases such as cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and osteoporosis compared to those with undergoing normal ovarian ageing and happens to be in line with what was known so far regarding early menopause.

Mette Wulf Christensen from Aarhus University in Denmark suggested that a few oocytes that were repeatedly harvested in well stimulated ART cycles is a likely predictor of advanced menopausal age when seen in young women and may thus serve as an early marker of accelerated general ageing. There is also an association shown between early menopause with a greater risk of CVD, osteoporosis, and death. She also said that identifying women at risk of early menopause may thus allow early preventive health initiatives in terms of  a healthy lifestyle.

The national cohort study that was based in Danish included >19,000 young women (≤37 years) who were undergoing their first ART treatment in a fertility clinic between the period of 1995-2014 with the number of oocytes harvested in the first and following cycles serves as a marker.

In a follow-up of 6 years span, women with early ovarian ageing for overall-disease risk has a higher risk than those with a normal oocyte field and they consisted of Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease, all-cause death, cancer, cataract, Charlson Comorbidity index, CVD, early retirement benefit, osteoporosis and type 2 diabetes.

To be specific, the early ovarian ageing group was significantly more likely to develop osteoporosis, CVD, comorbidity, and have early retirement benefit than women with normal ovarian ageing.

Christhensen concluded that it is important to have a counselling towards the women who are affected with a much earlier menopause, with the introduction of a new lifestyle habit or  applying the use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to reduce the adverse health risks.