Self‐rated menopausal status and quality of life in women aged 40‐63 years

Abstract

Objectives. To determine whether quality of life (QOL) changes during the menopause as a function of menopausal status and other medical and lifestyle variables. Design. A postal questionnaire sent to three different samples of women. Method. A total of 1188 questionnaires were received from (a) two samples recruited from two Family Health Service Association (FHSA) lists and (b) one sample recruited through an advertisement in a women's magazine. The questionnaires consisted of (a) a seven domain, 48‐item, condition‐specific QOL questionnaire which was developed for this study (MQOL), (b) a single item global QOL questionnaire (GQOL), (c) questions about medical history, (d) questions about work status, (e) questions assessing menopausal status using two different techniques. Results. Both the MQOL and GQOL indicated a relationship with menopausal status. GQOL and MQOL showed a U‐shaped relationship with menopausal status, with lowest scoresassociated with the middle of the menopause. However, domain scores of Sleep and Energy failed to reach the levels reported by women who perceive themselves to be pre‐menopausal, and domain scores of Symptom Impact and Social Interaction indicate steady decline during the menopausal transition. Women who experienced the menopause long ago reported the highest GQOL, feelings and cognition domain scores. Medical history and work outside the home play an important role in determining MQOL‐womenwho had undergone hysterectomy, those who had tried but discontinued HRT while still in the middle of the climacteric, and those with greater co‐morbidity had poorer QOL. Those who worked outside the home reported better MQOL, and those recruited through the magazine reported poorer QOL. Conclusions. QOL is affected by the menopause, but the way it is affected depends on the measure of QOL used. QOL during the menopause is also affected by medical and lifestyle variables. QOL during the menopause is a complex interaction of several different kinds of variable.

Factors Affecting The Quality Of Life In Climacteric Women

“…Our findings are in accordance with many previous studies and confirm negative effects of menopause on quality of life. [12,13] We found that educational level of the women had positive impact on menopausal symptoms. We may interpret this as follows; if a woman is educated, she can cope better with menopausal symptoms.…”

Quality of life after the menopause in Iran: a population study

“…Older women had a significantly better HR-QOL compared with younger women. Studies have shown that there is a decline in the prevalence of vasomotor, somatic, and psychological symptoms after menopause [3,20]. Additionally, older women may have learned to handle with menopausal symptoms over time.…”

Assessment of health-related quality of life in menopause and aging

“…The following scales are introduced according to their chronological order of construction. They are listed in Table 3 [36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45] .…”