loading
loading
NIH grant 1R01AG097727-01A1: Reproductive events, menopause and biological aging among Latina women
Institute: {'code': 'AG', 'abbreviation': 'NIA', 'name': 'National Institute on Aging', 'admin_org_id': '12500002', 'admin_funding_url': ''}. PI: Shakira Franco Suglia. Award: $720040.
Start: 2026-09-05T00:00:00.
PROJECT SUMMARY
The impact of reproductive events on menopause and aging processes is largely unknown. While menopause
is part of the aging process, the timing of menopause varies with earlier onset associated with risk of
premature mortality. Latina women’s timing and frequency of reproductive events, including puberty,
pregnancy, and menopause, differs from that of other racial/ethnic groups. Despite socioeconomic
disadvantage, on average, Latina women experience similar or lower risk of adverse birth outcomes compared
to non-Hispanic white women. This so called “birth paradox” does not apply to maternal outcomes. Latina
women in the US have an elevated risk of primary cesarean, gestational diabetes, and increased risk of
developing type II diabetes and heart disease later in life. We propose to examine how reproductive events are
associated with biological aging processes and menopause and how social context may modify these
associations in a sample of Latina women participating in the Hispanic Community Health Study /Study of
Latinos (HCHS/SOL). The HCHS/SOL study is a longitudinal study of US Latinos, representing varied
countries of origin, conducted in the US. The planned analyses will be conducted among a random sample of
pre-menopausal women at baseline followed over a 12-year period. Leveraging the infrastructure of the
HCHS/SOL study, through a brief phone-call, we will collect detailed information on reproductive events,
perimenopausal symptoms and timing of menopause. We propose to assay existing blood samples for DNAm
and characterize trajectories of epigenetic aging over a 12-year period (three time points) to understand how
reproductive events influence timing of menopause and DNAm age in adulthood among Latina women.
Uniquely, this design allows us to compare individuals’ DNAm aging pre- and post- reproductive events, a
major strength of this proposal. Specifically, we will examine 1): How the frequency, severity and timing of
reproductive events (menarche, infertility, pregnancy complications and gynecological disorders) affect
menopausal onset and symptoms (N= 2000) and how social context may modify this association; 2) How
frequency, severity, and timing of reproductive events impact the rate of epigenetic aging among
premenopausal women of late reproductive age followed over a 12-year period to capture the menopausal
transition (N=1000) and how social context modifies this association; 3): Use genome wide methylation and
functional enrichment analyses we will explore how reproductive events are related to alterations of DNA
methylation, prior to and during the menopausal transition (N=1000). Upon completion of this project, our
findings will elucidate important epigenetic pathways that will help explain how reproductive events affect aging
processes among a population that experiences distinct sociocultural factors.document fetched 2026-09-13 02:45