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• Posted August 3, 2026

Premature Menopause Linked To High Blood Pressure

Women who enter menopause at an earlier age have an increased risk of high blood pressure, a new study says.

Researchers found that nearly 23% of women with premature menopause and 19% of women with early menopause had high blood pressure, compared to under 17% of women with normal menopause, researchers found.

Overall, premature menopause brought a 12% higher risk of high blood pressure compared to women who reached menopause after age 45, researchers reported recently in the journal Menopause.

Based on these results, researchers recommended that doctors treat a woman’s age at menopause as a distinct heart risk factor, especially if she reached menopause earlier than age 40.

“Our study confirms a significant association between premature menopause (before age 40) and an increased risk of developing high blood pressure, with the risk peaking between ages 25 and 35,” wrote the research team led by Dr. Vicente Arrarte. He is head of clinical cardiology at the Dr. Balmis University Hospital of Alicante in Spain.

“This association persists even after adjusting for other known cardiovascular risk factors, highlighting the importance of considering the age at menopause as a cardiovascular risk factor when assessing women’s health,” the team concluded.

For the study, researchers analyzed data from nearly 108,000 women participating in the UK Biobank, a large-scale health research project in the United Kingdom. The women were enrolled between 2006 and 2010, and tracked through the end of 2023.

During the follow-up period, about 17% of the women overall were diagnosed with high blood pressure, with their risk climbing steadily as their age at menopause dropped.

The fact that risk peaks between menopause at 25 to 35 suggests that the heart health risk from premature menopause might be concentrated in an even younger group of women than earlier considered, researchers said.

However, women who underwent early menopause due to surgical removal of their ovaries did not have a similarly increased risk of high blood pressure, after other risk factors were taken into account, results showed.

“The results of this study highlight the potential adverse long-term health outcomes associated with premature menopause, and in particular, the need to regularly screen for cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension,” Dr. Stephanie Faubion, medical director for The Menopause Society, said in a news release.

“Use of hormone therapy is also routinely recommended in women with premature menopause at least until the natural age of menopause unless contraindications exist,” added Faubion, who was not involved in the study.

More information

The Cleveland Clinic has more on early and premature menopause.

SOURCES: The Menopause Society, news release, July 29, 2026; Menopause, July 28, 2026