Heritability of menopausal age in mothers and daughters

To determine the heritability of age at natural menopause from mother-daughter pairs. Two-generation families were selected to study heritability of menopausal age. Subjects were drawn from a population-based study. One hundred sixty-four mother-daughter pairs with a natural menopausal age. None. The heritability of age at natural menopause estimated by a random-effects model. A heritability of 44% (95% confidence interval, 36%, 50%) was estimated. This study confirms that heritable components largely determine the natural age at menopause. Reasons for the differences between heritability estimates based on sibling pairs and parent-child comparisons are discussed.