Could Delaying Menopause Improve Women’s Health and Longevity?

It is the ovaries’ truncated life span that also makes them such a promising site for experimentation. Researchers think that prolonging their function, better aligning the length of their viability with that of other organs, could potentially alter the course of a woman’s health — and longevity research overall.

Dr. Wegrzyn said she hoped the White House initiative, in which researchers and startups are competing for a slice of the program’s $100 million budget, will highlight the connection between menopause and longevity, while also attracting more funding and talent to the field.

“If you don’t think about ovarian function during aging,” said Jennifer Garrison, an assistant professor at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, “then you’re kind of missing the boat.”

How the Ovaries Are Involved in Aging

The ovaries function like the control center of “a complex network of signaling in a woman’s body,” Dr. Garrison said. Through hormones like estrogen and progesterone, as well as other chemicals, the ovaries communicate with and influence virtually every other organ. Scientists don’t yet know exactly how the ovaries do this, but what they do know is that when the ovaries stop functioning normally, all kinds of problems arise. In young women, for example, that can manifest as polycystic ovary syndrome, which increases the risk for metabolic conditions, heart disease, mental health problems and more.

As a woman’s eggs are depleted, eventually triggering menopause, the ovaries’ chemical communications seem to go quiet. That corresponds to an increased risk for dementia, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis and other age-related diseases. The earlier a woman enters this life phase, the higher her risk for developing those conditions, and the shorter her life is likely to be. And in women who enter menopause prematurely because their ovaries are surgically removed, the risks for chronic conditions are greater still. That suggests that even after the ovaries stop releasing eggs in menopause, they may still be somewhat protective to a woman’s overall health, said Dr. Stephanie Faubion, the medical director of the Menopause Society. It’s just unclear how.