ABSTRACT
Background: During menopause the quality of life of women can be seriously deteriorated and influenced by lifestyles. Aim: To assess the prevalence of menopausal symptoms and their relationship with lifestyles and quality of life. Material and Methods: The Menopause Rating Scale (MRS), a survey that measures menopausal symptoms and has questions related to lifestyles, was applied to 1023 women aged 54 ± 6years (range 45 to 64years), consulting in primary health care clinics. A multiple linear regression analysis was used to evaluate the association between menopausal symptoms and lifestyle. Results: Fifty six percent of women did not have a paid work, 64 percent were nonsmokers and 90 percent did not perform any physical exercise. The most frequent menopausal symptoms referred were muscle and joint ailments (85 percent) followed by mental and physical exhaustion (80 percent). Sedentary women, smokers or those who did not to have time for leisure activities showed worst quality of life scores. Conclusions: Postmenopausal women with unhealthy lifestyles had the lower quality of life scores and more menopausal symptoms.
Subject(s)
Female , Humans , Middle Aged , Fatigue/epidemiology , Hot Flashes/epidemiology , Life Style , Postmenopause/physiology , Quality of Life/psychology , Chile/epidemiology , Epidemiologic Methods , Fatigue/etiology , Hot Flashes/etiology , Postmenopause/psychologyABSTRACT
Antecedentes: En las últimas décadas han surgido cambios en la pirámide poblacional aumentando el número de mujeres en fase climatérica, esto unido al concepto de calidad de vida, le ha dado mayor relevancia al estudio de las modificaciones que ocurren en esta etapa de la vida. Objetivos: Identificar la frecuencia e intensidad de los síntomas de la transición menopáusica. Métodos: Estudio transversal comparativo en 969 mujeres de 45 a 64 años, usuarias de consultorios de Atención Primaria de Salud del Servicio de Salud Metropolitano Occidente, Santiago, Chile. Para evaluar la severidad de los síntomas climatéricos, se utilizó la Menopause Rating Scale (MRS). Para el análisis de los datos se utilizó el test T de Student, el test no paramétrico de Chi cuadrado, el test de Mann-Whitney y un nivel de significancia de 5 por ciento. Resultados: La edad promedio de las premenopáusicas fue de 49,1 +/- 3,0 años y 55,3 +/- 5,7 años en las posmenopáusicas. El síntoma más frecuente y que se presentó con mayor intensidad fueron las molestias musculares y articulares, el dominio más afectado fue el psicológico con una intensidad moderada y el perfil socio-demográfico fue similar para ambos grupos menopáusico. Conclusión: Al considerar el puntaje global de la escala MRS, ambos grupos se clasificaron en la categoría de intensidad moderada, pero en el grupo posmenopáusico, la puntuación fue más alta, lo que se traduce en una peor calidad de vida para estas mujeres, dado principalmente por el dominio psicológico.
Background: There were changes in the recent decades in the population pyramid due an increase the number of women in climacteric phase, this antecedent, connected with the concept of quality of life, has given greater relevance to the study of the changes that occur in this stage of life. Objectives: To identify the frequency and intensity of the symptoms of the menopausal transition. Methods: A cross-sectional comparative population-based study was conducted. The selection of 969 women aged 45-64 years treated in the Primary Care Health Services of the Occident Region of Santiago, Chile. The Menopause Rating Scale was used to assess the severity of climacteric symptoms. Data were analyzed using the chi-squared test, T of Student test, the Mann-Whitney test; a probability of 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The average age of premenopausal women were 49.1 +/- 3.0 years and 55.3 +/- 5.7 years in postmenopausal. The most frequent symptoms and of greater intensity was the muscle and joint discomfort, the domain most affected was the psychological with a moderate intensity and socio-demographic profile were similar for both menopausal groups. Conclusion: The global score of the MRS scale for both groups are classified in the category of moderate intensity, but in the postmenopausal group, the score was higher, resulting in a lower quality of life for these women, mainly due the psychological domain.