Boomsma, D.I.

Vink, J.M.

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VU Research PortalModeling age at menopauseVink, J.M.; Boomsma, D.I.published inFertility and Sterility2005DOI (link to publisher)10.1016/j.fertnstert.2005.01.004document versionPublisher's PDF, also known as Version of recordLink to publication in VU Research Portalcitation for published version (APA)Vink, J. M., & Boomsma, D. I. (2005). Modeling age at menopause. Fertility and Sterility, 83(4), 1068.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2005.01.004General rightsCopyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright ownersand it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.            • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research.            • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain            • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ?Take down policyIf you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediatelyand investigate your claim.E-mail address:vuresearchportal.ub@vu.nlDownload date: 14. Sep. 2021on this topic and believe it should be left up to individualcenters as to whether they think it is worth pursuing.Jane E. Johnson, M.T. (A.S.C.P.)H. Lee Higdon, III, Ph.D.William R. Boone, Ph.D.Department of Obstetrics and GynecologyDivision of Reproductive EndocrinologyGreenville Hospital SystemGreenville, South CarolinaDawn W. Blackhurst, Dr. P.H.Department of Quality ManagementGreenville Hospital SystemGreenville, South CarolinaJanuary 6, 2005REFERENCES1. Johnson JE, Higdon HL III, Blackhurst DW, Boone WR. Expectationsfor oocyte fertilization and embryo cleavage after whole sperm vs. spermhead intracytoplasmic injection. Fertil Steril 2004;82:1412–17.2. Palermo GD, Colombero LT, Rosenwaks Z. The human sperm centro-some is responsible for normal syngamy and early embryo development.Rev Reprod 1997;2:19–27.doi:10.1016/j.fertnstert.2005.01.002Modeling age at menopauseTo the Editor:From their study, van Asselt et al. (1) report a heritabilityof 44% for the menopausal age in a Dutch sample of 164mothers and their daughters. This heritability estimate isbased on a familial correlation of 0.22. As noted by theauthors, this correlation can be due to either shared genes orshared environment, and the heritability is therefore overes-timated if shared environmental factors influence the trait.With twin data, it is possible to disentangle the influences ofshared genes and shared environment.We analyzed data on age at natural menopause from 200twin–sister pairs from the Netherlands Twin Register (NTR)(2). We had data for 52 monozygotic (MZ) twin pairs and for148 dizygotic (DZ) and sister (sibling) pairs. Mean age attime of completing the NTR survey was 56.05 years (SD 5.3). A mean age of 47.3 years (SD  6.2) for age ofmenopause was reported, with a 2-year test–retest correla-tion for age of menopause of .87 (P.000) in a sample of177 women who completed the survey twice.The correlation for age at menopause was 0.597 (P.000)for MZ twin pairs and 0.170 (P.039) in the DZ–sistergroup. This pattern of correlations strongly suggests geneticinfluences on age at natural menopause. We used structuralequation modeling to obtain estimates of the additive genetic(A) and environmental variances (E). We also tested whethera model that included shared environment explained the databetter than an AE model. Results showed that shared envi-ronmental influences did not contribute to the variation inage of natural menopause [2(1)  1.72]. The heritabilityestimate was 60% (95% confidence interval 37%–91%) forvariance in age at natural menopause.Our result, from a Dutch sample recruited through theNTR, thus is in line with the heritability (44%) based onmother–daughter correlations and the heritability (71%) re-ported earlier for an independent, somewhat smaller, sampleof Dutch twins (3). We can conclude that in the Dutchpopulation, the heritability for age at menopause is approx-imately 60%. This is in line with other studies that investi-gated the heritability of the age at natural menopause (4, 5).Because several studies have detected a genetic influence onmenopausal age, this suggests that women with a familyhistory of early menopause are at higher risk to experiencean early menopause themselves.Jacqueline Vink, Ph.D.Dorret Boomsma, Ph.D.Department of Biological PsychologyVrije UniversiteitAmsterdam, The NetherlandsDecember 8, 2004REFERENCES1. Van Asselt KM, Kok HS, Pearson PL, Dubas JS, Peeters PHM, te VeldeER, et al. Heritability of menopausal age in mothers and daughters. FertilSteril 2004;82:1348–51.2. Boomsma DI, Vink JM, Beijsterveldt CEMv, Geus de EJC, Beem AL,Mulder EJCM, et al. Netherlands Twin Register: a focus on longitudinalresearch. Twin Res 2002;5:401–6.3. de Bruin JP, Bovenhuis H, van Noord PAH, Pearson PL, van ArendonkJA, te Velde ER, et al. The role of genetic factors in age at naturalmenopause. Hum Reprod 2001;16:2014–8.4. Snieder H, MacGregor AJ, Spector TD. Genes control the cessation of awoman’s reproductive life: a twin study of hysterectomy and age atmenopause. J Clin Metab 2001;83:1875–80.5. Treloar SA, Do KA, Martin NG. Genetic influences on the age atmenopause. Lancet 1998;352:1084–5.doi:10.1016/j.fertnstert.2005.01.004Technical challenges in freeze–thawing of human ovaryTo the Editor:We have read with great interest the recent article onfreeze–thawing of intact human ovary with its vascular pedi-cle by Martinez-Madrid et al. (1). There are some details thatare not discussed in the article that are important for under-standing their work. We agree that cryopreservation of theentire organ with its vascular pedicle is technically feasible,as we showed in our earlier work (2, 3); however the authorsneed to address the following points. First, they said theovary was placed in a cryovial where it was pre-equilibrated,1068 Letters to the Editor Vol. 83, No. 4, April 2005

English

Modeling age at menopause

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on this topic and believe it should be left up to individual
centers as to whether they think it is worth pursuing.
Jane E. Johnson, M.T. (A.S.C.P.)
H. Lee Higdon, III, Ph.D.
William R. Boone, Ph.D.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Division of Reproductive Endocrinology
Greenville Hospital System
Greenville, South Carolina
Dawn W. Blackhurst, Dr. P.H.
Department of Quality Management
Greenville Hospital System
Greenville, South Carolina
January 6, 2005
REFERENCES
1. Johnson JE, Higdon HL III, Blackhurst DW, Boone WR. Expectations
for oocyte fertilization and embryo cleavage after whole sperm vs. sperm
head intracytoplasmic injection. Fertil Steril 2004;82:1412–17.
2. Palermo GD, Colombero LT, Rosenwaks Z. The human sperm centro-
some is responsible for normal syngamy and early embryo development.
Rev Reprod 1997;2:19–27.
doi:10.1016/j.fertnstert.2005.01.002
Modeling age at menopause
To the Editor:
From their study, van Asselt et al. (1) report a heritability
of 44% for the menopausal age in a Dutch sample of 164
mothers and their daughters. This heritability estimate is
based on a familial correlation of 0.22. As noted by the
authors, this correlation can be due to either shared genes or
shared environment, and the heritability is therefore overes-
timated if shared environmental factors influence the trait.
With twin data, it is possible to disentangle the influences of
shared genes and shared environment.
We analyzed data on age at natural menopause from 200
twin–sister pairs from the Netherlands Twin Register (NTR)
(2). We had data for 52 monozygotic (MZ) twin pairs and for
148 dizygotic (DZ) and sister (sibling) pairs. Mean age at
time of completing the NTR survey was 56.05 years (SD 
5.3). A mean age of 47.3 years (SD  6.2) for age of
menopause was reported, with a 2-year test–retest correla-
tion for age of menopause of .87 (P.000) in a sample of
177 women who completed the survey twice.
The correlation for age at menopause was 0.597 (P.000)
for MZ twin pairs and 0.170 (P.039) in the DZ–sister
group. This pattern of correlations strongly suggests genetic
influences on age at natural menopause. We used structural
equation modeling to obtain estimates of the additive genetic
(A) and environmental variances (E). We also tested whether
a model that included shared environment explained the data
better than an AE model. Results showed that shared envi-
ronmental influences did not contribute to the variation in
age of natural menopause [2(1)  1.72]. The heritability
estimate was 60% (95% confidence interval 37%–91%) for
variance in age at natural menopause.
Our result, from a Dutch sample recruited through the
NTR, thus is in line with the heritability (44%) based on
mother–daughter correlations and the heritability (71%) re-
ported earlier for an independent, somewhat smaller, sample
of Dutch twins (3). We can conclude that in the Dutch
population, the heritability for age at menopause is approx-
imately 60%. This is in line with other studies that investi-
gated the heritability of the age at natural menopause (4, 5).
Because several studies have detected a genetic influence on
menopausal age, this suggests that women with a family
history of early menopause are at higher risk to experience
an early menopause themselves.
Jacqueline Vink, Ph.D.
Dorret Boomsma, Ph.D.
Department of Biological Psychology
Vrije Universiteit
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
December 8, 2004
REFERENCES
1. Van Asselt KM, Kok HS, Pearson PL, Dubas JS, Peeters PHM, te Velde
ER, et al. Heritability of menopausal age in mothers and daughters. Fertil
Steril 2004;82:1348–51.
2. Boomsma DI, Vink JM, Beijsterveldt CEMv, Geus de EJC, Beem AL,
Mulder EJCM, et al. Netherlands Twin Register: a focus on longitudinal
research. Twin Res 2002;5:401–6.
3. de Bruin JP, Bovenhuis H, van Noord PAH, Pearson PL, van Arendonk
JA, te Velde ER, et al. The role of genetic factors in age at natural
menopause. Hum Reprod 2001;16:2014–8.
4. Snieder H, MacGregor AJ, Spector TD. Genes control the cessation of a
woman’s reproductive life: a twin study of hysterectomy and age at
menopause. J Clin Metab 2001;83:1875–80.
5. Treloar SA, Do KA, Martin NG. Genetic influences on the age at
menopause. Lancet 1998;352:1084–5.
doi:10.1016/j.fertnstert.2005.01.004
Technical challenges in freeze–thawing of human ovary
To the Editor:
We have read with great interest the recent article on
freeze–thawing of intact human ovary with its vascular pedi-
cle by Martinez-Madrid et al. (1). There are some details that
are not discussed in the article that are important for under-
standing their work. We agree that cryopreservation of the
entire organ with its vascular pedicle is technically feasible,
as we showed in our earlier work (2, 3); however the authors
need to address the following points. First, they said the
ovary was placed in a cryovial where it was pre-equilibrated,
1068 Letters to the Editor Vol. 83, No. 4, April 2005


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