Prevalence of premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) and its relationship with female reproductive factors in Iranian women: a cross-sectional study from the Persian (Shahedieh) cohort data

BACKGROUND: In premature ovarian insufficiency, the cessation of menstruation, and cessation of ovarian function occurs before the age of 40, and this phenomenon is associated with many complications and problems for women. Since several factors can affect this situation, this study was conducted to determine the relationship between fertility history, and premature ovarian failure. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted on the data of the first phase of cohort study, which was a sample of 10,000 people from an Iranian adult population (age: 35–70 years). 1276 women were included who naturally experienced menopause from this population. They were separated into three groups based on the age of menopause: premature ovarian failure for those who reached menopause before the age of 40, early menopause for those who reached menopause between the ages of 40 and 45, and natural menopause for those who reached menopause at or after the age of 45. The demographic and fertility characteristics of two groups of women, one with premature ovarian failure and the other with early menopause, were compared with a group of women experiencing normal menopause. The comparison was based on frequency and percentage. Moreover, the odds ratio (OR) of these two groups compared to normal group was crudely calculated, and adjusted based on age at the time of the interview using a logistic regression model. SPSS 23 software was used to fit models and calculations. RESULTS: The prevalence of premature ovarian failure was 3%. The likelihood of premature ovarian failure decreases as the number of live births rises. The risk is considerably higher for births ranging from zero to three children compared to those with more than four. Increased duration of breastfeeding is associated to a reduced risk of premature ovarian failure compared to the spontaneous occurrence (OR = 0.98, 95% CI (0.97, 0.99)). This relationship is maintained even after adjusting for age (OR = 0.98, 95% CI (0.97, 0.99). CONCLUSION: Based on the results of present study, it can be concluded that the factor of the number of births, and the duration of breastfeeding affect reducing the occurrence of POI, therefore, in health and treatment programs and policies, encouragement to have children, which is now part of the policies population of Iran, and the importance, and benefits of breastfeeding for mother and baby should be emphasized more.