The importance of female reproductive history on self-reported sleep quality, mood, and urogenital symptoms in midlife

Abstract

Objective This study investigated the importance of reproductive history on somatic and psychological symptoms in midlife women. Methods A total of 503 women from 39 to 65 years of age were recruited from different localities in Slovakia. These were interviewed about their reproductive and menstrual history, sociodemographic background, and lifestyle and health status after submitting pretested questionnaires. All variables were measured by self-reporting, and multivariable logistic and ordinal regression analyses tested the associations. Results Women who experienced miscarriage had a greater likelihood of waking early and then sleeping poorly, and they also felt unattractive in midlife. Moreover, women with two or more miscarriages were four times more likely to experience this sleep symptom than those without miscarriage (odds ratio [OR], 4.2; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.70-10.38; P = 0.002). In addition, women with one or two children suffered significantly less often with severe depressed mood and lack of enjoyment than women with three and more children (lack of enjoyment: with one child, the OR was 0.39 [95% CI, 0.16-0.96; P = 0.041]; with two children, the OR was 0.47 [95% CI, 0.23-0.97; P = 0.040]; depressed mood: with one child, the OR was 0.32 [95% CI, 0.12-0.84; P = 0.021]). Finally, the premenopausal and perimenopausal women were less likely to experience severe vaginal dryness than those in postmenopause. Conclusions This cross-sectional pilot study suggests that women's reproductive history, as determined by parity and miscarriage, may be relevant to their midlife health and well-being. Future research is warranted.

Effects of a therapeutic lifestyle modification intervention on cardiometabolic health, sexual functioning and health-related quality of life in perimenopausal Chinese women: protocol for a randomised controlled trial

“…In particular, a history of miscarriage was identified as being associated with worsening sleep quality while the number of parities was relevant to severely depressed mood and lack of enjoyment. 20 Other salient female reproductive histories such as the onset age of menarche and breast feeding have been recognised as being significantly associated with cardiovascular risk factors including obesity and obesityrelated hypertension. 21 Besides the negative influences of the female reproductive histories and menopausal characteristics, further literature reviews on midlife women's health research disclosed that the deterioration of HRQOL was additionally attributed to non-biological factors involving unhealthy lifestyles (eg, sedentary behaviours and tobacco use), a conservative cultural environment, poor socioeconomic status and a lack of family and social support.…”