Women who experience natural premature menopause have a higher risk of developing multiple chronic conditions compared with women with average-age onset of menopause, Australian data shows.

A nationwide study of more than 5000 women, followed for 20 years, found that those who experienced menopause before the age of 40 were twice as likely to experience multimorbidity by 60 and three times as likely to experience it during their 60s.

The data, drawn from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health, which began surveying women three-yearly in 1996, found that 2.3% experienced natural premature menopause.

Among the whole cohort, 55% of women went on to develop two or more chronic conditions postmenopause, but those with premature onset had a higher incidence of most of the 11 conditions studied.