"Previous studies have shown that long or irregular menstrual cycles are associated with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, but our study is the first to find a link between long or irregular menstrual cycles and NAFLD," Dr. Seungho Ryu of Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine in Seoul, said in a news release.
Dr. Ryu and colleagues did a cross-sectional analysis of data on 72,092 women younger than age 40 and a longitudinal analysis of a subset of 51,118 women without NAFLD at baseline.
Long or irregular cycles were defined as menstrual cycles of 40 days or longer, or too irregular to estimate, with 26- to 30-day menstrual cycles as the reference.
Of the women included in the cross-sectional analyses, 7.1% had NAFLD at baseline and 27.7% had long or irregular menstrual cycles.
During a median follow-up of 4.4 years, 8.9% of women developed NAFLD and long or irregular menstrual cycles were positively associated with prevalent NAFLD.
Specifically, the risk for NAFLD among women with long or irregular menstrual cycles was 22% higher than that observed for the reference group after adjusting for age, body weight, insulin resistance, and other factors (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.22; 95% CI, 1.14 to 1.31).
This association strengthened in time-dependent analysis, with a 49% increase in risk with long or irregular menstrual cycles, compared with the reference group (HR, 1.49; 95% CI, 1.38 to 1.60)
"Our results indicate that long or irregular menstrual cycles may provide an easily identifiable marker for an increased risk of NAFLD in young, premenopausal women," the study team writes in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
"Screening for NAFLD and counseling to promote healthy lifestyle behaviors may benefit women with a history of long or irregular menstrual cycles," they add.
The study received no commercial funding, and the authors have no relevant disclosures.
SOURCE: https://bit.ly/3pA0aAY Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, online March 3, 2022.
By Reuters Staff
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