Early menopause affects up to 10% of the female population, reducing reproductive lifespan considerably. Currently, it constitutes the leading cause of infertility in the western world, affecting mainly those women who postpone their first pregnancy beyond the age of 30 years. The genetic aetiology of early menopause is largely unknown in the majority of cases. We have undertaken a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies in 3493 early menopause cases and 13598 controls from 10 independent studies. No novel genetic variants were discovered, but the 17 variants previously associated with normal age at natural menopause as a quantitative trait were also associated with early menopause and POI (Primary Ovarian Insufficiency). Thus early menopause has a genetic aetiology which overlaps variation in normal age at menopause and is at least partly explained by the additive effects of the same polygenic variants. The combined effect of the common variants captured by the SNP arrays was estimated to account for approximately 30% of the variance in EM. The association between the combined 17 variants and the risk of early menopause was greater than the best validated non-genetic risk factor, smoking.
