Entering menopause later maintains muscle strength, study suggests

BOSTON - A new study finds the later a woman enters menopause, the longer she maintains good muscle function.

Loss of muscle mass and strength can have a profound effect on a person's quality of life and increase their risk of falls, disability, and even death. Having a shorter reproductive lifespan, in other words between the age of first menstrual cycle to menopause, has been associated with heart disease and mortality.

Now this new study finds it can also reduce muscle function. 

A team in South Korea looked at more than 2,300 postmenopausal women between the ages of 45 and 75 and found entering menopause later was associated with a reduced risk of low handgrip strength, a measure of muscle mass and function.

The natural conclusion is that estrogen has beneficial effects on skeletal muscle. 

In:
• Health
• Menopause

Mallika Marshall, MD

Mallika Marshall, MD is an Emmy-award-winning journalist and physician who has served as the HealthWatch Reporter for CBS Boston/WBZ-TV for over 20 years. A practicing physician Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Dr. Marshall serves on staff at Harvard Medical School and practices at Massachusetts General Hospital at the MGH Chelsea Urgent Care and the MGH Revere Health Center, where she is currently working on the frontlines caring for patients with COVID-19. She is also a host and contributing editor for Harvard Health Publications (HHP), the publishing division of Harvard Medical School.

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