The one reproductive event with a date attached, and the date is partly inherited. What follows from that is smaller than the internet suggests.
Why this topic Menopause stopped being a private subject in about two years — hormone therapy is being argued about in public, employers are writing policies, and a great many products have appeared to meet the attention.
2026-04-23 · Moolhuijsen LME, Zhu J, Mullin BH, et al., Nature Genetics
PCOS risk genes overlap with later menopause: 29 loci, 31 plasma proteins, in 544,513 people
A genomic study of polycystic ovary syndrome found that many of its risk-increasing loci are also associated with later age at menopause -- read by the authors as reproductive longevity, from a larger or longer-lasting oocyte supply. The same study expanded PCOS loci from 16 to 29, identified 31 associated plasma proteins, tied a polygenic risk score to adverse cardiometabolic outcomes in both sexes, and found no effect of PCOS susceptibility on childlessness. PMID:42026183.
Solid lines are connections this site curates. Dashed lines mean the two ends share a research paper — worth knowing, and not a claim that one explains the other.
Counted in Europe PMC, where the title or abstract names both this topic and that rsID. The number is papers, not evidence of a cause.
MCM8
Menopause (age at onset)
13 papers →PRRC2A
Menopause (age at onset)
5 papers →near MRPS30
Breast cancer
5 papers →BRSK1
Menarche and menopause (age at onset)
5 papers →SYCP2L
Menopause (age at onset)
4 papers →LSP1
Breast cancer
4 papers →FTO
Menarche (age at onset)
4 papers →HFE
Iron overload risk (hereditary hemochromatosis)
3 papers →MTHFR
Folate metabolism (MTHFR C677T)
3 papers →ESR1
Breast cancer
3 papers →LRP5
Bone mineral density
3 papers →SLC4A7
Breast cancer
3 papers →TLK1
Menopause (age at onset)
2 papers →TNRC6B
Uterine fibroids
2 papers →HFE
Iron overload risk (HFE H63D)
2 papers →APOE
Lewy body disease
2 papers →ESR1
Bone mineral density (spine)
2 papers →COX11
Breast cancer
2 papers →CYP1A2
Caffeine metabolism
2 papers →ESR1
Bone mineral density (hip)
1 paper →INHBA
Menarche (age at onset)
1 paper →near NPIPB2
Menopause (age at onset)
1 paper →LOC101926943
Systemic lupus erythematosus
1 paper →near ARL14EP
Menopause (age at onset)
1 paper →NLRP11
Menopause (age at onset)
1 paper →TOX3
Breast cancer
1 paper →ZFP36L2
Polycystic ovary syndrome
1 paper →ESR1
Breast cancer
1 paper →EXO1
Menopause (age at onset)
1 paper →HLA-DQA2
Crohn's disease
1 paper →ECHDC1
Breast cancer
1 paper →GC
Vitamin D levels
1 paper →ESR1
Bone properties (heel)
1 paper →MLXIPL
Triglycerides
1 paper →SLCO1B1
Statin muscle-side-effect risk
1 paper →MCM6 / LCT
Lactose tolerance
1 paper →IL29
Chronic hepatitis C infection
1 paper →CCND1
Immunoglobulin light chain (AL) amyloidosis
1 paper →Europe PMC, title and abstract only, searched for “age at menopause”, “menopause”, “reproductive lifespan” alongside each published rsID. Full text was not counted: it returns every paper with an rsID buried in a supplementary table. Recounted monthly.
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Menopause. MyGeneLog™. https://www.mygenelog.com/topics/menopause
Menopause is this site's topic page for the genetics of reproductive timing — the one reproductive event with a date attached, and that date is partly inherited.
Partly, but less than the internet suggests. Age at menopause is genuinely inherited to a degree, but what follows from any single variant is smaller than online claims about it imply.
Menopause stopped being a private subject in about two years — hormone therapy is argued about in public, employers are writing policies, and many products have appeared to meet the attention.
Europe PMC is searched for age at menopause, menopause or reproductive lifespan appearing in a paper's title or abstract alongside a published rsID, recounted every month.