ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Specialized interdisciplinary menopause clinics in Edmonton provide care for women suffering from severe menopausal symptoms. Our objectives were to evaluate changes over time in patient-reported menopause symptoms and quality of life (QOL) in a cohort of clinic patients, compared to a cohort of women recruited from the clinic waitlists. METHODS: We conducted a prospective study of consecutive new patients in two clinics. Consenting women completed a generic menopause symptom severity questionnaire (MSSQ) and the menopause-specific quality of life (MENQOL) questionnaire at their first clinic and at a follow-up visit. Demographics, medical and obstetric histories, and medication use were extracted from patient charts. Women on the clinics' waitlists were enrolled as controls; corresponding data for baseline and follow-up were collected in mailed-in surveys. Descriptive and paired statistics were used for data analysis. Agreement plot was created to visualize the agreement between MSSQ and MENQOL scores. RESULTS: A total of 139 women were recruited: 98 attended the clinic and 41 were from the waitlist. Follow-up data were available for 99 women (71 clinic and 28 waitlist). There were no significant differences between clinic and waitlist patient characteristics. Women attending the clinics experienced significant reduction in symptom severity (mean MSSQ scores) and improvement in QOL (reduced MENQOL "bother" scores). Women on the clinic waitlist did not demonstrate significant changes over a similar timeframe. MENQOL correlated well with menopause symptom severity assessment. CONCLUSION: Women attending specialized menopause clinics experienced improvement in symptoms and QOL, whereas women on the waitlists did not experience these changes. : Video Summary: Supplemental Digital Content 1, http://links.lww.com/MENO/A418.
