Do Women with BRCA Mutations Experience Early Menopause?

Because BRCA mutations cause faulty DNA repair (and oocytes are especially vulnerable to DNA damage), some have expressed concern that women with who carry such mutations might be more likely than noncarriers to experience early spontaneous menopause and to be susceptible to chemotherapy-induced menopause. Now, two studies address these questions.

In the first study, researchers followed a cohort of Australian and New Zealand women with known BRCA carrier status (819 mutation carriers and 1021 mutation-free blood relatives of carriers). In an analysis censored for induced menopause and controlled for factors such as age and use of fertility drugs, 344 women experienced natural menopause during follow-up. Age at menopause (median, 51) did not…