Is menopause still evolving? Evidence from a longitudinal study of multiethnic populations and its relevance to women’s health

Abstract

Background: To reflect on the impact of changing patterns of delayed marriage and reproduction and to seek evidence as to whether menopause is still evolving, characteristics of the menopause transition were investigated within and between ethnic populations in this study. Methods: A cross-sectional analysis was conducted using data on 747 middle-aged women obtained from the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (SWAN) from 1996 to 2008. The ethnic groups included: Afro-American, Chinese, Japanese, Caucasian, and Hispanic. Perimenopause age and duration, menopause age, and hormonal indicators of menopause were examined across five ethnicities. Results: We found a similar window of menopause age within populations, but no significant difference in perimenopause and menopause age between populations. The rate of increase of follicle-stimulating hormone and testosterone differed significantly in Hispanics and African-Americans during the menopause transition period. Conclusions: The broad window of variation in age at menopause within the population and the absence of significant differences between populations, in combination with population variation in menopause symptoms, suggest that menopause is a relatively recently evolved and still evolving trait. Under the mate choice theory of menopause, menopause is the result of the accumulation of infertility mutations in older women due to men's preference for younger mates. We propose a shifting mate choice-shifting menopause model which posits that, as the age of mate choice/marriage shifts to older ages, so will the age at menopause, and that menopause is a transient phase of female fertility; it can de-evolve, be delayed, if not disappear completely. Integrated longitudinal menopausal studies linked with genomics and hormonal studies on diverse ethnic populations can provide valuable information bearing on women's health and personalized medicine.

Age of Natural Menopause Among Jordanian Women and Factors Related to Premature and Early Menopause

“…SWAN’s study also investigated specific variations in sexual hormonal profile and menopausal symptoms among different populations indicating that menopause is a trait that can be predicted, de-evolved, and controlled. 28 …”

The evolutionary ecology of age at natural menopause: implications for public health

“…Female reproductive skew, and the front loading of reproductive events, is invoked as a mechanism that could be the cause of the evolution of menopause as it would decrease selection on extended reproductive lifespan (Peccei, 2001). However, given that the preference for younger females is found in humans (Chan et al, 2020;Takahashi, Singh, & Stone, 2017) but not particularly in chimpanzees (Takahashi et al, 2017), the human male mate preference is likely a derived trait and thus the outcome, rather than the cause, of early reproductive cessation in women.…”

“…Additional adaptationist theories, such as the 'shifting mate choice/shifting menopause' hypothesis posit that variation in age at natural menopause occurs in response to later age of reproduction, through the removal of deleterious alleles selecting for menopause, which have accumulated due to male preference for younger mates (Chan et al, 2020). Fundamentally, adaptationist perspectives have not proposed or found a genetic or physiological pathway producing a cascade which triggers reproductive senescence during midlife and would allow menopause timing to be facultative.…”

Origin of Sex-Biased Mental Disorders: An Evolutionary Perspective

“…Males are more sensitive than females to adverse gestational conditions and the impact can last lifetime (Navara 2014) Male susceptibility to environmental stresses Males are more susceptible than females to environmental variations throughout their lives (Bale 2009; Beaudet 2017) Male brain plasticity Males are more susceptible than females to perturbation in gene expression associated with synaptic plasticity, possibly due to gene-environment interactions (Andersen and Teicher 2008;Lai et al 2013;Mottron et al 2015) Male-driven evolution of senescence Male-male competition for early gains in reproduction may accelerate the accumulation of deleterious mutations that affect senescence (Williams 1957;Kirkwood and Rose 1991) Mate choice and the evolution of menopause A male preference for younger mates would lead to the accumulation of female infertilitycausing genes and the evolution of menopause (Morton et al 2013;Takahashi et al 2017;Chan et al 2020) Male-driven persistence of maternal mortality Child marriage and repeated marriage including serial monogamy exacerbate the problem of maternal mortality making it persist longer (Jagadeeshan et al 2019…”

“…From an evolutionary point of view, all else being equal, early reproduction pays off; however, the preference for younger women has produced a major maladaptive effect in women, ultimately resulting in the loss of reproductive ability after menopause. The preference for younger women means depriving older women of the opportunity to reproduce, which could have led to the accumulation of female infertility mutations giving rise to menopause (Morton et al 2013 ; Takahashi et al 2017 ; Chan et al 2020 ). A correlated negative response to this male mating behavior has been the persistence of maternal mortality due to repeated cycles of “younger mates–maternal mortality–serial monogamy–younger mate” (Jagadeeshan et al 2019 ).…”