Review of menopausal palpitations measures

Abstract

Palpitations are reported commonly by women around the time of menopause as skipped, missed, irregular, and/or exaggerated heartbeats or heart pounding. However, much less is known about palpitations than other menopausal symptoms such as vasomotor symptoms. The objective of this review was to integrate evidence on menopausal palpitations measures. Keyword searching was done in PubMed, CINAHL, and PsycINFO for English-language, descriptive articles containing data on menopause and palpitations and meeting other pre-specified inclusion criteria. Of 670 articles, 110 met inclusion criteria and were included in the review. Results showed that 11 different measures were used across articles, with variability within and between measures. Inconsistencies in the wording of measurement items, recall periods, and response options were observed even when standardized measures were used. Most measures were limited to assessing symptom presence and severity. Findings suggest that efforts should be undertaken to (1) standardize conceptual and operational definitions of menopausal palpitations and (2) develop a patient-friendly, conceptually clear, psychometrically sound measure of menopausal palpitations.

A Pilot Study of Associations Between the Occurrence of Palpitations and Cytokine Gene Variations in Women Prior to Breast Cancer Surgery

“…Women were asked to indicate if they felt their “heart races/pounds” in the past week. This single-item self-report measure is comparable to the way palpitations were measured in previous studies of women with (Choo et al, 2019; Kyvernitakis et al, 2014) and in over 100 studies of women without breast cancer (Sheng et al, 2021).…”

“…In these patients, one relatively common, but understudied menopausal symptom is palpitations (Sheng et al, 2022). This symptom is captured as feelings of missed, irregular, rapid, or exaggerated heartbeats (Sheng et al, 2021). In the general population, palpitations affect 20% to 42% of peri-menopausal and 16% to 54% of post-menopausal women (Carpenter et al, 2021).…”

MsFLASH analysis of diurnal salivary cortisol and palpitations in peri- and postmenopausal women

“…Salivary cortisol values were collected at four time points over 2 days. Palpitations data were obtained using a self-report item as is common in other studies (see review 36 ). Data on vasomotor symptoms, depressive symptoms, stress, and insomnia severity were obtained using well-validated measurement tools.…”

Correlates of palpitations during menopause: A scoping review

“…Many menopause symptom checklists include palpitations (e.g. rapid, irregular, and/or exaggerated heartbeats), 4 and research suggests palpitations are relatively common. Up to 42% of perimenopausal women and 54% of postmenopausal women report having palpitations.…”