Age-dependent threshold effect of reproductive lifespan on cardiovascular disease in chinese women: a CHARLS cohort study

Age-dependent threshold effect of reproductive lifespan on cardiovascular disease in chinese women: a CHARLS cohort study. Age-dependent threshold effect of reproductive lifespan on cardiovascular disease in chinese women: a CHARLS cohort study Article Open access Published: 30 October 2026 Cite this article You have full access to this open access article Download PDF View saved research Age-dependent threshold effect of reproductive lifespan on cardiovascular disease in chinese women: a CHARLS cohort study Download PDF Abstract Reproductive lifespan (RLS) reflects lifetime estrogen exposure. Whether age modifies the nonlinear link between RLS and cardiovascular disease (CVD) is unclear.

We investigated this age-dependent relationship in Chinese women. We included 4,443 women aged ≥ 45 years without CVD at baseline (2011). Incident CVD was defined as self-reported, physician-diagnosed heart disease or stroke.

Participants were stratified by baseline age tertiles. We applied Cox models with restricted cubic splines and two-piecewise Cox regression to detect nonlinearity and thresholds, with subgroup and sensitivity analyses. Over 7.53 years of follow-up (33,442 person-years), 1,244 (28.0%) developed CVD.

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