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(HealthDay News) – For women with type 1 diabetes, intensive vs. conventional treatment is not associated with menopause risk, although greater insulin dose is associated with lower natural menopause risk, according to research published in Diabetes Care.
Catherine Kim, MD, MPH, from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and colleagues conducted a secondary analysis of 657 women with type 1 diabetes in the randomized Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) and its observational follow-up, the Epidemiology of Diabetes Interventions and Complications (EDIC) study. The impact of intensive vs. conventional diabetes treatment on menopause was assessed.
After an average follow-up of 28 years, by EDIC year 18, the researchers found that 38% of women had experienced natural menopause and 18% had experienced surgical menopause. In intensive vs. control groups, the ages at natural menopause (49.9 vs. 49.0 years; P=0.28) and surgical menopause (40.8 vs. 42.0 years; P=0.31) were similar. Treatment group, hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), and microvascular complications were not linked to the risk of natural or surgical menopause in multivariate models. The risk of natural menopause was decreased with each 10 unit/day increase in insulin dosage (hazard ratio, 0.91), while each kg/m² increase in body mass index correlated with an elevated risk of surgical menopause (hazard ratio, 1.08).
“In the DCCT/EDIC, intensive vs. conventional treatment group and HbA1c level were not associated with menopause risk,” the authors write. “Greater insulin dose was associated with lower menopause risk.”
Several pharmaceutical companies provided free or discounted supplies or equipment to support participants’ adherence to the study.
