Menopausal symptoms and the awareness of menopausal-related information in low-income mid-aged women from Guayaquil, Ecuador.

OBJECTIVE: To assess menopausal symptoms and determine awareness of menopausal related information in mid-aged women. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study in which 140 women aged 40 to 60 years from Guayaquil, Ecuador were surveyed with the short 10-item Cervantes Scale (CS-10) and a questionnaire containing personal data and questions assessing awareness of menopause related information. RESULTS: The mean age of the sample was 48.0 ± 5.6 years. More than half of surveyed women had low education and non-urban residency, none were on menopausal hormone therapy, 33.6% had hypertension, 35% were postmenopausal, 78.6% had an increased body mass index (overweight/obese) and 92.9% had abdominal obesity (waist > 88 cm). The average CS-10 score was 15.3 ± 9.0 with a median of 14.0. The three most frequent menopausal symptoms were muscle-joint pain (75.0%), changes in skin texture (74.3%) and vaginal dryness (71.4%). Regarding awareness of information related to the menopause, it was found that 98.6% of women had no idea about what the menopause is and the average age of its onset. Interestingly, although 61.4% knew that during the menopause there is weight gain, 57.9% were sedentary. Married, postmenopausal, older and less educated women presented higher mean total CS-10 scores. Contrarily, those with less awareness of menopause related information present lower scores. CONCLUSION: In this low-income mid-aged female sample there was a high rate of non-awareness regarding information related to the menopause, including an unhealthy cardiometabolic profile. There is a need for educational programs aimed to increase awareness in this high-risk population in relation to the surveyed aspects in order to improve their health status and prevent chronic conditions.

Application of the 10-item Cervantes Scale among mid-aged Ecuadorian women for the assessment of menopausal symptoms.

BACKGROUND: The majority of instruments used to evaluate menopausal symptoms are long and complex. In this sense, more simple tests are being designed to rapidly obtain a snapshot of the global clinical picture. OBJECTIVE: To assess menopausal symptoms in mid-aged women using the short 10 item version of the original menopause Cervantes Scale (CS-10). METHOD: This was a cross sectional study in which a total of 451 Ecuadorian women (40-59 years) were surveyed with the CS-10 and a general socio-demographic questionnaire containing personal and partner data. RESULTS: Median age of the whole sample was 48 years. A 41.2% were postmenopausal, 44.3% abdominally obese (waist circumference >88cm), 6% diabetic, 16.9% hypertense, 11.5% smoked, 6.9% currently used hormone therapy, 9.5% phytoestrogens and 6.7% psychotropic drugs. For the entire sample, median [interquartile range] CS-10 global scores were 10.0 [9.5], and for pre-, peri- and postmenopausal women: 5.0 [7.0], 11.0 [9.0] and 13.5 [8.0], respectively. The CS-10 displayed good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha 0.87). According to the CS-10, the three most prevalent menopausal symptoms were: muscle and joint pains (88.5%), hot flushes (77.6%) and skin dryness (71.4%). Multiple linear regression analysis found that postmenopausal status, parity, unhealthy perceived status, psychotropic drug use, partner erectile dysfunction, lower coital frequency and living at high altitude were related to higher CS-10 global scores. CONCLUSION: In this mid-aged Ecuadorian female sample severity of menopausal symptoms, as determined by the CS-10, were related to environmental and female/partner personal and socio-demographical aspects.

Assessment of menopause-related symptoms in mid-aged women with the 10-item Cervantes Scale.

OBJECTIVE: To develop a short 10 item version of the original menopause Cervantes Scale (CS) in order to assess menopausal symptoms in a large cohort of mid-aged Colombian women. METHODS: Reliability of the new short tool was assessed through internal consistency determination (Cronbach's alpha values) and intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) analysis. Ten items out of the 31 composing the original CS were selected according to their clinical relation with menopausal symptoms. Subsequently the short tool was used to assess menopausal symptoms and related factors among 1739 mid-aged women. RESULTS: The CS-10 displayed a mean (±SD) ICC value of 0.45 (±0.06) and a Cronbach's alpha of 0.778 suggesting good internal reliability. For the entire sample median [interquartile range] CS-10 global scores were 10.0 [12.0], and for pre-, peri- and postmenopausal women: 8.0 [9.2], 9.0 [9.0] and 14.0 [14.0], respectively. Median global CS-10 scores significantly increased with menopausal status, marital status and ethnicity. Multiple linear regression analysis determined that higher global CS-10 scores (worse quality of life) correlated with age, parity, years since menopause, body mass index, ethnics (black) and smoking habit. CONCLUSION: The CS-10 seems to be a simple instrument that may aid everyday clinical consultation and help at performing an accurate diagnosis of menopause-related symptoms. Further studies are needed to confirm our preliminary findings.