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Hormones, weight change and menopause

International Journal of Obesity volume 25, pages 874–879 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To determine total body weight change occurring in women at mid-life, specifically with respect to occurrence of menopause and use of estrogen.

DESIGN: Retrospective analysis of body weight measurements accumulated in two cohorts of healthy women participating in studies of skeletal metabolism.

SUBJECTS: Cohort 1: 191 healthy nuns enrolled in a prospective study of osteoporosis risk, aged 35–45 in 1967; cohort 2: 75 women aged 46 or older and still menstruating, enrolled in 1988 in a study of bone cell dynamics across menopause. Roughly one-third of each group received hormone replacement after menopause.

MEASUREMENTS: Body weight and height, age, menstrual status and use of estrogen replacement. Cohort 1: 608 measurements at 5 y intervals spanning a period from 17 y before to 22 y after menopause; cohort 2: 1180 measurements at 6-month intervals spanning a period from 5 y prior to 5 y after menopause.

RESULTS: In cohort 1 weight rose as a linear function of age (both chronological and menopausal), both before and after cessation of ovarian function, at a rate of ∼0.43% y−1. Neither the menopausal transition nor the use of estrogen had an appreciable effect on this rate of gain. In cohort 2 the rate of gain seemed to diminish slightly at menopause. As with cohort 1, hormone replacement (or its absence) had no appreciable effect on weight.

CONCLUSIONS: The long-term, total body weight trajectory at mid-life is not influenced appreciably by either cessation of ovarian function or by hormone replacement.

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Acknowledgements

Support was provided by NIH AR07912, NIH AR39221, and Health Future Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Creighton University, Osteoporosis Research Center, Omaha, Nebraska, USA

    KM Davies, RP Heaney, RR Recker, MJ Barger-Lux & JM Lappe

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  1. KM Davies
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  2. RP Heaney
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  4. MJ Barger-Lux
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Correspondence to RP Heaney.

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Davies, K., Heaney, R., Recker, R. et al. Hormones, weight change and menopause. Int J Obes 25, 874–879 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0801593

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