Elevated subclinical atherosclerosis associated with oophorectomy is related to time since menopause rather than type of menopause.

OBJECTIVE: To compare common carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT) between women who had natural menopause with those who had surgical menopause and to correlate IMT with time since menopause.
DESIGN: Cross-sectional study.
SETTING: University-based research clinic. PATIENT(S): One hundred eighty-nine healthy postmenopausal women who were not on hormone therapy (HT), age 46 to 81 (n = 132, women who did not have a prior hysterectomy or oophorectomy; n = 57, women who had undergone hysterectomy with bilateral oophorectomy). INTERVENTION(S): B-mode ultrasonography of the carotid artery, standardized questionnaires, and fasting blood samples were completed to evaluate the relationship between type of menopause, time since menopause, and subclinical atherosclerosis. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Carotid artery IMT. RESULT(S): Mean (SEM) carotid artery IMT measurements were 0.74 (0.01) mm among women experiencing natural menopause and 0.81 (0.02) mm among women having bilateral oophorectomy (P=.02). After adjusting for years since menopause, the mean IMT did not differ between the two groups (0.77 [0.01] mm among natural menopause and 0.76 [0.02] mm among bilateral oophorectomy groups). The age-adjusted carotid IMT was significantly positively associated with years since menopause (P=.02). CONCLUSION(S): Earlier menopause is associated with elevated subclinical atherosclerosis. Because they have on average far earlier menopause, women with bilateral oophorectomy have elevated subclinical atherosclerosis compared with women of similar age who had natural menopause.