In the largest single study to-date of diverse heart disease risks relative to age at menopause researchers used the UK Biobank to examine data on more than 144000 postmenopausal women (average age 60) including about 4900 women who experienced menopause naturally before age 40 and about 640 who entered menopause before age 40 after their ovaries were removed surgically. During an average of seven years of follow-up researchers found that women who had experienced premature menopause were significantly more likely to develop conventional heart disease risk factors such as high blood pressure high levels of bad cholesterol and Type 2
