What are the causes of premature ovarian failure?

Premature ovarian failure is a problem that women need to pay attention to. The older women are, the more attention they should pay to it. Premature ovarian failure has a lot to do with genetic factors, as well as autoimmune factors and some thyroid diseases.

1. Genetic factors

Through careful analysis of family history, the incidence of familial POF has been reported to be 4% to 31% in different populations, indicating that genetic factors play a major role in POF. X chromosome abnormalities have been recognized as the main cause of POF. With the progress of molecular biology, researchers have also found more and more candidate genes related to POF on autosomes.

2. Immune factors

Since the 1950s, researchers have found that 9% to 40% of POF patients have concurrent autoimmune diseases of other endocrine glands or systems, such as autoimmune thyroiditis, systemic lupus erythematosus, myasthenia gravis, hypoparathyroidism, rheumatoid arthritis, idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, and diabetes. POF patients often have two or more autoimmune diseases. Among all the autoimmune diseases associated with POF, thyroid disease is the most common cause, and 12% to 33% of POF patients can be detected with thyroid disease. 18% of POF patients have hereditary thyroid disease in their families. The second most common is polyglandular autoimmune disease (PAGD, Addison's disease combined with endocrine dysfunction). In PGAD type I, the incidence of POF is 17% to 50%, and in PGAD type II, the incidence of POF is 3.6% to 7%. PGAD type II includes autoimmune Addison's disease, thyroid autoimmunity and insulin-dependent diabetes, as well as others such as vitiligo, baldness, chronic atrophic gastritis, pernicious anemia, etc. The natural course of these syndromes varies, and symptoms of POF may appear before or after the onset of the disease. For example, in Addison's disease, POF usually occurs earlier than adrenal symptoms.

3. Suffered from mumps and oophoritis in childhood

Having suffered from mumps and oophoritis in childhood destroyed the function of the ovaries, making the ovaries insensitive to the stimulation of the pituitary gonadotropin and failing to respond as expected.