Linkage of premature and early menopause with psychosocial well-being: a moderated multiple mediation approach

PURPOSE: Menopause occurring before the age of 40 is premature and between 40 and 44 years age is early, since the natural age of menopause lies between 45 and 50. The endocrine changes that come with menopause include an erratic decline in estrogen levels which affects the brain. Thus, leading to changes in cognitive function in the longer term due to the menopausal transition. The study aims to explore the effect of premature and early menopause on cognitive health, and psychosocial well-being. The moderated multiple mediation hypothesis of the study is that the effect of premature or early menopause is mediated by depression and insomnia, while all the pathways are moderated by smoking habits. DATA AND METHODS: The study utilized Longitudinal Aging Study in India (LASI), 2017–2018, Wave 1 data. The sample of 31,435 women were aged 45 and above and did not undergo hysterectomy. A moderated multiple mediation model was used to understand the association between premature or early menopause (X), insomnia (M1), depression (M2), moderator (W), and cognitive health (Y), while controlling for possible confounders. RESULTS: Premature menopause was negatively associated with cognition (β:-0.33; SE:0.12; p < 0.05), whereas positively associated with insomnia (β:0.18; SE:0.03; p < 0.001) and depression (β:0.25; SE:0.04; p < 0.001). There is a moderating effect of smoking or tobacco consumption has a significant moderating effect on the pathways among premature menopause, depression, insomnia and cognition. When the same model was carried out for early menopause (40–44 years), the results were not significant. CONCLUSIONS: The findings emphasize the fact that smoking is associated with premature menopause, depression and insomnia. Women who experienced premature menopause has lower cognitive scores, depressive symptoms and insomnia symptoms, which were higher among those who consumed tobacco. The study, strongly recommends the dissemination of information on the negative effects of tobacco consumption and making more informed choices to maintain a healthy life. More research into various methods and therapy is needed to determine the relationship between the age of early menopause and their psychosocial well-being. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40359-023-01267-3.