The Abstract: Older age at menopause correlates with longevity

Plus, seven more surprising facts about womens health.

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The Abstract

May 2024

Welcome to the May edition of

The Abstract. In observance of Womens Health Month, weve got a special issue for you, including a brief overview of the White House Initiative on Womens Health Research and the Presidents recent executive order supporting it. After that, learn eight surprising facts about womens health and aging. Did you know that only humans, killer whales, and short-finned pilot whales experience menopause? Read on to learn whyand much more.

White House launches Initiative on Womens Health Research

WHITE HOUSE INITIATIVE ON WOMEN'S HEALTH RESEARCH

Women live longer than men on average, but they spend 25% more time in worse health. Its also no secret that women are still underrepresented in animal research and clinical research, despite gains since Congress passed the NationalInstitutes of Health Revitalization Act of 1993, mandating the inclusion of women and people of color in NIH-funded research. (Even today, female animals are excluded from basic research because of the belief that cyclical fluctuations in their reproductive hormones introduce too much noise and variability to the outcomes.) Womens health research got a much-needed infusion of support and funding with the White House Initiative on Womens Health Research, which launched in 2023 and took concrete steps forward with a recent executive order.

The overarching goals of the executive order are to integrate womens health across the federal research portfolio, prioritize investments in womens health, encourage research on womens health during midlife and menopause, and assess unmet needs to support womens health. Among the highlights are a $200 million NIH grant to help close the gap in womens health research across the lifespan, a call for research proposals related to womens health from the National Science Foundation, and a new NIH initiative dedicated to research on biomarker discovery and validation related to conditions that impact women uniquely.

While all of this is a step in the right direction, women's health is still

"woefully underfunded," according to Jennifer Garrison, Ph.D., assistant professor at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, and co-founder and director of the Global Consortium for Reproductive Longevity and Equality. Of the $45.2 billion NIH budget for 2022, only $4.6 billion was focused on women's healthand of that, only $116 million on female reproductive aging.

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THIS MONTH

What Were Reading

These are third-party articles about science that we find interesting but have no relationship to Elysium or any of our products. Elysiums products are not intended to screen, diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent anydisease.

Eight surprising facts about womens health and aging

Older age at menopause correlates with increased longevity

LIFE EXPECTANCY IN YEARS

The average age of menopause onset in the U.S. is 51, but can be as early as 40. Its accompanied by lower levels of estrogen and progesteronea change in hormone production that comes with an increased risk of adverse health outcomes. Studies demonstrate that women who undergo menopause later live longer (one

study showed that women who entered menopause after age 55 lived two years longer than those who entered menopause before age 40). The age at menopause appears to be strongly influenced by

genetics, in particular those that are involved in DNA repair.

Brothers of women who go through menopause later also live longer

Women who go through menopause later in life tend to live longerand so do their brothers. Using two historical sources of data on sibships before the introduction of birth control, one

study found that relative survival after age 50 was greater for men with a late-fertile sister. Why the survival advantage for brothers? The study suggests there are likely common genetic variants underlying both late menopause andlongevity.

Women spend 25% more of their lives in poor health than men

The life expectancy of women globally is 73.8 years, compared with 68.4 years for men. Sounds rosy, but the reality is women spend 25% more of their lives in poor health and disability compared to men. Why the gap? A

report by the World Economic Forum and the McKinsey Global Health Institute cites these four factors: research bias that favors male biology, poor data about womens health, barriers to care, and lack of investment in womens health conditions.

Females are born with all the eggs they will ever have

The female ovaries produce eggs and hormonesbut they arent capable of making new eggs. A female fetus at 20 weeks of gestation contains six to seven million immature eggs (oocytes) in her developing ovaries. As women age, the number of eggs drastically declines. When a female baby is born, she has only one to two million oocytes, which further declines to about 300,000-400,000 by puberty. Only about

12% of eggs remain by age 30, and 3% by age 40.

The ovary is probably the only organ that loses its function prior to its first use, according to Francesca Duncan, Ph.D., assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

Ovaries age much faster than other tissues

The ovary is the first organ to age, and it happens roughly 2.5 times faster than the rest of the body. Ovarian aging contributes to infertility and a loss of endocrine function. Because of this rapid decline and the important role hormones play in our overall health, this means women experience an erratic decline in the health and function of their other organs, in contrast to men who experience a more gradual decline. In fact,

research shows that hormonal changes associated with menopause accelerate biological aging in the rest of the body by 6%. Previously regarded as reproductive organs, the ovaries are now thought of as

architects of health in female bodies, in the words of Dr. Garrison.

Menopause has a profound negative effect on women's health

Menopause marks the point in time when a woman has not experienced a menstrual cycle for 12 months. Many people are familiar with some of the symptomshot flashes, sleep problems, mood changesbut the truth is that menopause has far-reaching effects on the female body. The culprit is ovarian aging and the associated decline in estrogen. According to

research, estrogen deficiency impacts tissues and organs with estrogen receptors, including the ovary, endometrium, vaginal epithelium, skin, hypothalamus, and urinary tract. But it also has negative consequences for the cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, and immune systems, as well as emotional and sleep patterns, cognitive ability, and energy metabolism.

Hormone replacement therapy is misunderstood

Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) was a popular treatment in the 1990s. That changed in 2002 when the Womens Health Initiative (WHI) published a widely publicized report claiming that HRT increased the risk of breast cancer and coronary disease in all women receiving the treatment. Despite being based on a narrow cohort of postmenopausal, asymptomatic women, the misinterpretation of the 2002 study had

detrimental effects, depriving a generation of women of HRT. Subsequent studies from the WHI acknowledge HRT as the most effective treatment for managing menopausal vasomotor symptoms and clearly demonstrate protective effects of HRT for coronary disease and a reduction in mortality, particularly among women who initiate HRT within 10 years of their last menstrual period. These findings are consistent with the vast majority of the published literature.

Scientists dont understand why humans experience menopause

Humans are in

rare company when it comes to menopause. Only humans and a few species of toothed whales have extended postreproductive stages. The rarity of menopause is unsurprising given that an organism can maximize its fitness by reproducing until the end of its lifespan. Scientists remain uncertain as to why menopause evolved, and why women stop reproducing well before the end of their liveswomen spend, on average, 42.5% of their adult life postreproductive. The most compelling explanation is the grandmother effect hypothesis, which suggests that grandmothers increase the survival probability of their children and grandchildren.

TERM OF THE MONTH

Ovarian aging

/over.i.n e.d/

An aging process characterized by loss of quantity and quality of the oocyte or follicular pool. Ovarian aging not only impacts fertilitybut overall health. The final step of ovarian aging is called menopause.

AGING 101

A change is coming: Heres what menopause can mean for you

Menopause symptoms can range from hot flashes to sleep disturbances. But you dont have to suffer. There are ways to alleviate your menopause symptoms.(Readmore)

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These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to screen, diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or condition or assess risk of any disease or condition. Unless advised by your healthcare professional, biological age should not be used to determine or alter any age-related health or medical treatments based on your chronologicalage.