Women with irregular periods may be at risk for liver disease

Date:
March 3, 2022
Source:
The Endocrine Society
Summary:
Women with long or irregular periods are known to have a higher
risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease, but researchers found
these women may also be at risk for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease
(NAFLD).



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Women with long or irregular periods are known to have a higher risk of
type 2 diabetes and heart disease, but researchers found these women may
also be at risk for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), according
to a new study published in the Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.


========================================================================== About 24% of U.S. adults have NAFLD, a chronic disease in which excess
fat builds up in your liver. This buildup of fat is not caused by heavy
alcohol use. NAFLD can progress to chronic liver damage and is associated
with a higher risk of death. Diet and exercise are the standard of care
for NAFLD as no medicines have been approved to treat the disease.

"Our study results show that long or irregular menstrual cycles may be associated with an increased risk of developing NAFLD, and this link
was not explained by obesity," said Seungho Ryu, M.D., Ph.D., of the
Center for Cohort Studies, Total Healthcare Center, Kangbuk Samsung
Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine in Seoul, South
Korea. "Previous studies have shown that long or irregular menstrual
cycles are associated with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease,
but our study is the first to find a link between long or irregular
menstrual cycles and NAFLD." The researchers studied a data set of
72,092 women under 40 years old. About 28% of these women had long or
irregular menstrual cycles, and 7% had NAFLD.

The researchers followed up four years later and found new cases of NAFLD occurred in almost 9% of the women. The researchers concluded that there
was an association between long or irregular menstrual cycles in young, premenopausal women and an increased risk of NAFLD.

"Young women with long or irregular menstrual cycles may benefit
from lifestyle changes to reduce the risk of NAFLD as well as other cardiometabolic diseases," Ryu said.

Other authors of this study include: In Young Cho, Yoosoo Chang, Jae-Heon
Kang, Yejin Kim, Eunju Sung and Hocheol Shin of Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine in Seoul, South Korea; Sarah
Wild of the University of Edinburgh in Edinburgh, U.K; and Christopher
Byrne of the University of Southampton and the University Hospital
Southampton in Southampton, U.K.

The study received funding from Sungkyunkwan University and the
Southampton NIHR Biomedical Research Centre.

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by The_Endocrine_Society. Note: Content
may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. In Young Cho, Yoosoo Chang, Jae-Heon Kang, Yejin Kim, Eunju Sung,
Hocheol
Shin, Sarah H Wild, Christopher D Byrne, Seungho Ryu. Long or
Irregular Menstrual Cycles and Risk of Prevalent and Incident
Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease. The Journal of Clinical
Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2022; DOI: 10.1210/clinem/dgac068 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220303095700.htm

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