We conducted a genome-wide association study for age at natural menopause in 2,979 European women and identified six SNPs in three loci associated with age at natural menopause: chromosome 19q13.4 (rs1172822; -0.4 year per T allele (39%); P = 6.3 × 10 11), chromosome 20p12.3 (rs236114; +0.5 year per A allele (21%); P = 9.7 × 10 11) and chromosome 13q34 (rs7333181; +0.5 year per A allele (12%); P = 2.5 × 10 8). These common genetic variants regulate timing of ovarian aging, an important risk factor for breast cancer, osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease.

doi.org/10.1038/ng.387, hdl.handle.net/1765/24579
Nature Genetics
Erasmus MC: University Medical Center Rotterdam

Stolk, L., Zhai, G., van Meurs, J., Verbiest, M., Visser, J., Estrada Gil, K., Rivadeneira Ramirez, F., Williams, F., Cherkas, L., Deloukas, P., Soranzo, N., de Keyzer, J., Pop, V., Lips, P., Lebrun, C., van der Schouw, Y., Grobbee, D., Witteman, J., Hofman, A., … Uitterlinden, A. (2009). Loci at chromosomes 13, 19 and 20 influence age at natural menopause. Nature Genetics, 41(6), 645–647.https://doi.org/10.1038/ng.387