Table 9 Reproductive risk factors of early menopause, obesity and abdominal obesity in the menopause transition—a review of literature (reviewed from the late 1990s)

Late menarcheal age [17, 18]

Late menarcheal age [39, 40]^a

Early menarcheal age [33, 35, 39, 43]

Early menarcheal age [19–27]

Early menarcheal age [43, 58–60]

Never use of hormonal contraceptives [21, 28–32]

Never use of hormonal contraceptives^a

High variability in cycle length prior to age 40 years [23]^a

Low number of gestations [6, 17, 19, 21–23, 25–28, 33–36]^a

Low number of gestations [39–42]

Low number of gestations [39, 40]

Never or short period of lactation [22, 37]

Lactation length^a

Long period of lactation [24]

Regular bleeding pattern before the climacterium [24, 25, 36]

Irregular bleeding pattern before the climacterium^a

Short or normal length of menstrual cycle in the climacterium [21, 23, 28, 38]^a

Normal length of menstrual cycle in the climacterium^a

Normal length of menstrual flow in the climacterium^a

Late menopausal age [6, 25, 26, 30, 33, 35]

Late menopausal age [33, 35]

Early age at menopause [52]

Postmenopausal status [40, 43–51]^a

Postmenopausal status [44–47, 51, 53–56]^a