BackgroundMenopausal women may experience menopausal syndrome and long-term effects caused by low estrogen levels, such as senile dementia and osteoporosis in the elderly. Most menopausal women may have misconceptions about menopause and low use of pharmacological interventions. These misconceptions may damage the quality of life and miss the critical period for preventing senile diseases. Thus, enhancing the awareness of menopausal women regarding psychosocial and physical changes through health education programs was a way to improve positive attitudes toward menopause and make further treatment options.ObjectivesThis study aimed to evaluate the effect of multidisciplinary health education based on lifestyle medicine on menopausal syndrome and lifestyle behaviors of menopausal women.MethodsThe study was conducted in several hospitals in Chongqing, China. The two groups were from different hospitals with similar medical levels in order to reduce information contamination. It was designed as a clinical controlled trial in which the intervention group (n = 100) and control group (n = 87) were matched for age, age at menarche, menopausal symptoms and drug use status at enrollment. Women in the intervention group received multidisciplinary health education based on lifestyle medicine for 2 months while those in the control group received routine outpatient health guidance. Menopausal syndrome, physical activity and dietary status of participants were assessed before and after the intervention. Paired t-tests and Independent-sample t-tests were adopted for comparison within and between groups, respectively, in the normal variables. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests and Mann-Whitney U tests were adopted for comparison within and between group, respectively, in the abnormal variables. Categorical variables were tested using Pearson's χ2. P-value < 0.05 was statistically significant in statistical tests.ResultsPost intervention testing indicated that menopausal syndrome of participants was significantly improved in the intervention group compared to the control group (P < 0.001). Between-group comparison showed a significant improvement of weekly energy expenditure of total physical activity (P = 0.001) and participation in exercise (P < 0.001) in the intervention group compared to the control group after the intervention. The dietary status of participants was significantly improved in the intervention group compared to the control group (P < 0.001). In the intervention group, the menopausal syndrome of participants improved more in the hormone drug group than in the non-hormone group (P = 0.007), as did the control group (P = 0.02). In the hormone drug group, the physical activity (P = 0.003) and dietary status (P = 0.001) mproved more in the intervention group than in the control group.ConclusionsThe multidisciplinary health education based on lifestyle medicine was effective in improving the menopausal syndrome and healthy lifestyle behaviors of menopausal women. Studies with extended observation period and larger sample size are in need to evaluate the long-term scale-up effects of the multidisciplinary health education.

This study was conducted to investigate the topographic relationship between the external laryngeal nerve (ELN) loop and the superior thyroid artery (STA), in order to provide the anatomical foundations for protecting the ELN during surgery. In the present study, 48 adult human cadavers were dissected and analyzed. For the 21 (21.9%) low-position ELN loops observed, the neurovascular relationship between the STA and the nerve was classified into four types: (1) the artery overlapped the nerve; (2) the artery passed through the ELN loop; (3) the muscular branch of the ELN loop and the laryngeal branch of the STA coursed together; and (4) the branches of the STA and the ELN loop were interlaced. Our study suggested that the patterns of ELN loops are so complicated that they have not been statistically defined in any previous study, which should be kept in mind when attempting to protect the nerve from injury. Also, because of the variable morphology of the ELN loop and its complicated topographic relationship to the STA, the vessels should be individually isolated and then ligated during thyroidectomy. When ligating the laryngeal branch of the STA during larynx surgery, special attention should be paid to avoiding damage to the muscular branch of the ELN/ELN loop.