Key result
Perimenopause is linked to ~92% higher odds of a poor Life's Essential 8 score.
Why the study?
To assess cardiovascular health in women using the American Heart Association Life's Essential 8 score and compare cardiovascular health across premenopausal, perimenopausal, and postmenopausal stages.
Does menopausal stage, particularly perimenopause, affect Life's Essential 8 cardiovascular health scores in women without prior cardiovascular disease?
Cross-Sectional (n=9,248)
Does menopausal stage, particularly perimenopause, affect Life's Essential 8 cardiovascular health scores in women without prior cardiovascular disease?
Odds Ratio: 1.92 (95% CI 1.13–3.26)
The perimenopausal transition represents a period of significant cardiovascular health decline—driven particularly by worsening lipid and glucose parameters—highlighting a critical window for early cardiometabolic disease prevention in women.
Captured external expert commentary on this paper, strongest first. Original sources are linked where available.
““This demonstrates that we really should be acting sooner. As soon as someone starts to enter the perimenopause phase, we really should be much more aggressive from a primary prevention standpoint instead of waiting until they’ve already gone through menopause.””
Perimenopause was associated with poorer LE8 scores; hypothesis-generating observation requiring prospective confirmation before guiding prevention.
BACKGROUND: This study assessed cardiovascular health in women using the American Heart Association's Life's Essential 8 (LE8) score, and compared cardiovascular health across premenopausal, perimenopausal, and postmenopausal stages. METHODS: Data from the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey cycles 2007 to 2020 were used and included women aged 18 to 80 years who were not pregnant or breastfeeding and without prior cardiovascular disease. Menopausal status was classified as pre-, peri-, or postmenopausal. LE8 scores were calculated as the continuous mean of 8 component scores and also categorized as poor, intermediate, or ideal. National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey analytical guidelines were followed. Adjusted linear regression models were used to assess temporal trends. RESULTS: <0.001). In comparison with premenopausal women, perimenopausal women were found to have higher age-adjusted odds of categorical poor overall LE8 (adjusted odds ratio, 1.92 [95% CI, 1.13-3.26]), poor lipid score (adjusted odds ratio, 1.76 [95% CI, 1.12-2.76]), and poor glucose score (adjusted odds ratio, 1.83 [95% CI, 1.06-3.17]). CONCLUSIONS: A decline in crude overall LE8 scores was observed from pre- to postmenopause, but age-adjusted categorical analyses showed the highest odds of poor LE8 scores and poor lipid and glucose scores in perimenopause.
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Nayak et al. (2026) conducted a cross-sectional in Cardiovascular health (n=9,248). Perimenopause vs. Premenopause was evaluated on Categorical poor overall Life's Essential 8 (LE8) score (<50) (OR 1.92, 95% CI 1.13-3.26). Perimenopausal women had significantly higher age-adjusted odds of a poor overall Life's Essential 8 score compared with premenopausal women (OR 1.92).
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