A new UCLA-led study suggests a way to predict when a woman will have her final menstrual period. The findings, published in the April issue of the peer-reviewed Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, could help women and physicians gauge the onset of menopause-related bone loss, which generally begins a year prior to the last period.



The researchers used women's ages, menstrual bleeding patterns and measurements of hormone levels to estimate the amount of time until they were likely to reach menopause, said the study's lead author, Dr. Gail Greendale, professor of medicine in the division of geriatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

Greendale said women who are approaching menopause often ask their health care providers when they will be done with their periods, but the information is sometimes more telling than women realize.

"Being able to estimate when the final menstrual period will take place has taken on importance beyond just helping women gauge when they will stop having periods," she said. "We know that potentially deleterious physiological developments, such as the onset of bone loss and an increase in cardiovascular risk factors, precede the final menses by at least a year."