Association between age at menarche and hyperuricemia in middle-aged and elderly women and the mediating effect of body mass index

Abstract:

Objective To explore the relationship between menarche age and hyperuricemia（HUA） in middle-aged and elderly women and whether this relationship is mediated by body mass index（BMI）.Methods A total of 5 322 women aged ≥45 who had complete data on menarche and uric acid in the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study， a prospective study project from 2011 and 2015，were enrolled in this study. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the effect of menarche age on HUA， and restricted cubic spline based on logistic regression was used to analyze the relationship between menarche age and HUA. Mediation analysis was performed to explore the contribution of BMI to the association between age at menarche and HUA.Results Among 5 322 women，274（5.15%） had HUA. When compared with women aged 8 to 13 at menarche， the OR value and 95% confidence interval（CI） of HUA in 16-17 years and 18-22 years groups were 0.643（0.429，0.964） and 0.634（0.411，0.979），respectively，after adjusting for potential confounding factors. There was a linear inverse correlation between age at menarche and HUA，and the risk of HUA decreased by 6% for each 1-year increase of age at menarche. BMI partially mediated the association between menarche age and HUA，and the OR and 95%CI of direct effect and indirect effect were 0.936（0.878， 0.999） and 0.992（0.987，0.997），respectively.Conclusion Late menarche age reduces the risk of HUA，and early age at menarche is associated with an increased risk of HUA. BMI partially mediates the association between age at menarche and the risk of HUA.