The age when a woman enters menopause may depend on when she gave birth to her first daughter. This has been indicated by the research conducted by Dr Andrzej Galbarczyk and Prof. Grażyna Jasieńska from the JU Medical College.

The research results have been published in the latest issue of the international scientific periodical HOMO - Journal of Comparative Human Biology.

The Jagiellonian University scientists have stressed that many aspects of menopause still remain a mystery. Firstly, it is still unknown what exactly causes some women to undergo this process earlier than others. Secondly, the inability of reproduction long before the end of a female's life is unique for humans - it does not occur in any other species.

According to the "grandmother hypothesis", menopause developed in the course of human evolution as a kind of adaptation. In humans, late childbirth means greater risk of  pregnancy problems and of diseased offspring. Hence, for a woman who has reached certain age it may be more feasible to give up having more children and instead focus on helping her daughter bring up her own children. Another hypothesis suggests that a woman should give up reproduction in order to prevent competing for resources with daughters.

Dr Galbarczyk and Prof. Jasieńska have studied cases of nearly one thousand Polish women after menopause, from both urban areas and the countryside. They have been the first to indicate that the earlier a woman gave to a daughter, the earlier her natural menopause occurred, no matter whether the daughter was the woman's first or later child. On the other hand, no relation has been indicated between the age when the woman' first child or the first son was born and the age of menopause.

Dr Andrzej Galbarczyk and Prof. Grażyna Jasieńska work at the Department of Environmental Health of the JU Medical College Institute of Public Health. They are both affiliated to Salus Publica Foundation, a non-governmental non-profit organization which funds scientific research. For many years, anthropologists from Kraków have been carrying out research on various aspects of female reproduction.

source: www.naukawpolsce.pap.pl