Generality
In the years preceding menopause, irregularities in the menstrual cycle are quite common and often accompanied by a typical symptomatic procession (hot flushes, mood swings, vaginal dryness, incontinence episodes, etc.). All these small, large, disturbances reflect changes in the woman's hormonal structure.
Early menopause
When menopause starts before the age of 40, we talk about early menopause, a condition in which the symptoms and disorders described above are generally more intense and annoying than the norm.
The most common cause of early menopause is surgical removal of the ovaries, which is necessary, for example, in the presence of cysts or ovarian tumors. The cure of certain cancers, for example through radio or chemotherapy, is also a frequent cause of early menopause. Then there are a whole series of pathological conditions, on an immune, infectious, tumor, genetic and endocrine basis, which can lead to the same result. Although to a lesser extent, even smoking proved to be able to lower the age of menopause, approximately a couple of years.
Late menopause
While an early menopause is often more painful both physically and psychologically, delayed menopause, over the age of 52, is accompanied by a greater risk of breast cancer. This tumor form is in fact directly correlated to the duration of exposure of the breast tissue to estrogens.
Menopausal age: What does it depend on?
The age in which menopause occurs depends on individual, family, genetic, racial and nutritional factors; generally entering menopause at the age of 51, in a range ranging from 45 to 55 years.
With regard to genetics, it is believed that every woman is born with a well-defined set of eggs, but subjective and influenced by genetic elements (which would explain why the age of onset is often similar among women belonging to the same family nucleus). Immediately after birth, some of these follicles undergo an involution process while others remain quiescent until puberty. From this moment on, the woman begins to draw on her own set of egg cells, which will be exhausted and will enter menopause. At each cycle, the maturation processes involve multiple follicles but are completed only by one, while the others rapidly regress.
There does not seem to be a certain correlation between the age of appearance of the first menstruation, called menarche, and that in which menopause is entered; it is therefore not said that a woman with precocious puberty behind her must necessarily lose her fertility prematurely. On the other hand, due to the predisposing effect of estrogens, it has been shown that a menarche (appearance of the first menstruation) is accompanied by an increased risk of developing breast cancer.
We have said that, statistically speaking, menopause occurs on average around the age of 51. As anticipated, however, many women have menstrual irregularities of varying amounts already in the years preceding their debut. Thus, a less chronologically definable period called premenopausal is identified; less definable because in this regard there is a very large individual variability; in some women, for example, these minor disorders occur sporadically even 5 or 6 years before the definitive disappearance of the cycle, while in others the symptomatology is particularly nuanced and much closer to the definitive entry into menopause.
