Women who have had a child would have a longer life expectancy than those who did not. Scientists have also observed that those who had their first period after 15 years, those who breastfed and took oral contraception (for non-smokers) would also have a longer life.
Inserm researchers analyzed the medical data of the 500,000 participants of the EPIC study and those of 100,000 French women in the Inserm E3N cohort (Epidemiological study among women from MGEN) to understand whether there was a link between hormonal and reproductive factors and female mortality.
Hormonal factors are linked to the risk of death
After taking into account the risk factors (weight, smoking, physical activity and level of education), the researchers found that the risk of death of women who breastfed, took the pill (for non-smokers or ex-smokers) or had their period after 15 years were about 10% lower compared to those who respectively had not breastfed, taken oral contraceptives or had their period before 12 years. These factors all work in the same direction, whether we are interested in overall mortality, mortality from cancer or from cardiovascular disease, according to this study published on the IARC website (http: //epic.iarc. Fr/).
“The objective of the EPIC study was initially to study the impact of diet on the Cancer and that of E3N initially concerned breast cancer. But these cohorts allow the collection of a number of parameters so high that they are used more broadly in a second step. EPIC, like E3N, has a very high statistical power, due to the number of participants. We can thus draw real lessons on the long-term risk of various pathologies, in connection with life or health parameters “explains Françoise Clavel-Chapelon, from the Center for Research in Epidemiology and Population Health and director of the study. E3N.
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