You'd be hard put to find a woman who wanted a longer menopause, with its constellation of annoying symptoms. But a lengthier change of life may have one health advantage: women who transition more quickly through menopause appear to face an increased risk of "preclinical atherosclerosis." This is a tongue-twisting term for a condition in which the arteries narrow as their walls thicken. Researchers found that women who went from being premenopausal to postmenopausal in three years experienced more buildup of fatty plaque in their carotid arteries. This may put the women who had a quicker menopause at an increased risk for developing heart disease.

"We know that more fatty plaque accumulation predicts future heart attacks and strokes, but this is our first venture into this particular line of inquiry," said cardiologist C. Noel Bairey Merz, principal investigator of the study, which was part of the multifaceted Los Angeles Atherosclerosis Study (LAAS). "This is an observational study, which doesn't provide specific recommendations for patient evaluation and treatment but it does raise questions." Bairey Merz was quoted in a news release from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where she is a professor of medicine.

Included in the observational study were 203 women who were between the ages of 45 and 60 when they entered the study. Of these, 52 were premenopausal, 20 were perimenopausal, and 131 were postmenopausal. None had ever been diagnosed with heart disease, and they were followed for three years...

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