Jennifer Levine on the Impact of Premature Menopause

Jennifer Levine, MD, Columbia University Medical Center, discusses the effects of early menopause on survivors of childhood cancer.

Fertility issues often come as one of the long-term effects of being treated for childhood cancer. Specifically, many women experience premature menopause. In a study, Levine compared pregnancy rates of those who experienced childhood cancer and those who did not and found that between the ages of 21 and 30, the pregnancy rates were practically identical. However, after 30, the pregnancy rates of women who were treated for cancer decreased significantly.