Menopause timing and epigenetic aging: NUS review finds modest associations
Published in Biology, Journals.
Published October 13, 2026.
NUS Medicine highlighted a systematic review on October 12 linking reproductive history with DNA-methylation measures of biological aging. The review in Mechanisms of Ageing and Development combined 29 studies involving 550,550 women; individual analyses used smaller subsets.
In the GrimAge menopause analysis, involving 5,920 women, each year earlier at menopause was associated with approximately 0.08 years of greater epigenetic age acceleration. Other clocks also showed associations, although findings differed across measures.
These clock estimates are biomarkers, not literal measurements showing that every organ has aged by the same amount. The findings do not establish that earlier menopause causes faster aging.
Most studies contributing to the meta-analyses were cross-sectional. Smoking, socioeconomic circumstances, body mass index and existing illness may influence the observed relationships.
The work supports further longitudinal investigation of reproductive health and aging. It does not yet demonstrate that using these clocks improves clinical decisions or that changing reproductive milestones would extend lifespan.
Source: NUS Medicine release, October 12, 2026. Study: Simonson et al., systematic review and meta-analysis.