Women with type 1 diabetes may have a shorter reproductive life than their peers, with delayed menarche and earlier menopause, a small study suggests.

In the US study comparing 107 women with T1DM with 178 women without diabetes, those with diabetes experienced 2.5 fewer reproductive years on average, according to the report in Menopause.

Researchers used data from the Epidemiology of Diabetes Complications study, which recruited childhood-onset (younger than 17) patients with T1DM diagnosed or seen within one year of diagnosis at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, between 1950 and 1980.

Among the 325 female participants who completed an initial assessment between 1986 and 1988, the mean age and diabetes duration at baseline were 28 years and 19 years, respectively.