Association between Menopause, Postmenopausal Hormone Therapy and Metabolic Syndrome

(1) Background: We aimed to explore the associations between menopause, postmenopausal hormone therapy, and metabolic syndrome in a large community-based group of Asian women. (2) Methods: This is a cross-sectional study in which we enrolled women aged 30 to 70 years with sufficient information about menopausal status from the Taiwan Biobank. The definition for metabolic syndrome used in this study aligns with the Bureau of Health Promotion's (Taiwan) proposed definition. (3) Results: A total of 17,460 women were recruited. The postmenopausal group had a higher metabolic syndrome prevalence (30% vs. 14%) and 1.17 times higher odds ratio (OR) than the premenopausal group (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.02 to 1.33). Regarding the types of menopause, surgical menopause was associated with metabolic syndrome (OR = 1.40; 95% CI = 1.20 to 1.63); however, natural menopause was not associated with metabolic syndrome. Interestingly, postmenopausal hormone therapy was associated with a lower risk of metabolic syndrome in the women with natural menopause (OR = 0.79; 95% CI = 0.70 to 0.89), but not in those with surgical menopause. (4) Conclusions: Our results suggest that menopause is associated with an increased prevalence of metabolic syndrome, while postmenopausal hormone therapy is associated with a lower prevalence of metabolic syndrome in women with natural menopause.