The relationships between psychological symptoms and cardiovascular symptoms experienced during the menopausal transition

Abstract

Objective The purpose of the study was to examine the relationships between psychological symptoms and cardiovascular symptoms in a multi-ethnic group of midlife women while controlling for other influencing factors and to determine the association of race/ethnicity to the relationships between psychological symptoms and cardiovascular symptoms. Methods This was a secondary analysis of the data among 1,054 midlife women from two Internet Surveys. The instruments included the questions on background characteristics, health, and menopausal status and the Midlife Women’s Symptom Index. The data were analyzed using correlation analyses, chi-squared tests, ANOVA, and multivariate linear and logistic regression analyses. Results The total numbers and total severity scores of psychological symptoms were significantly related to those of cardiovascular symptoms as a whole and in each racial/ethnic group (p<.01). In total participants, both the total numbers and total severity scores of psychological symptoms were significantly associated with increased risk for cardiovascular symptoms after adjusting for race/ethnicity (p < . 01), and there were no interactions between race/ethnicity and psychological symptoms. The existence of diagnosed CVDs was significantly associated with the total numbers of and total severity scores of psychological symptoms only in Asian women. Conclusions Further studies on the mechanisms through which psychological symptoms are related to cardiovascular symptoms are needed while controlling for race/ethnicity.

Evaluación de la calidad de vida en climatéricas con la Escala Cervantes. Influencia de la etnia

“…Similar a otros reportes (21,22) , hallamos que las afrodescendientes tienen mayor IMC que las hispánicas. Vélez y colaboradores (23) señalaron que existen diferencias étnicas en las interacciones de genes implicados en procesos metabólicos y corporales que modifican el impacto de las exposiciones ambientales; no obstante, aclaran que es necesario realizar estudios que lo verifiquen.…”

“…Nuestros hallazgos indican que las hispánicas tienen mayor deterioro psíquico que las afrodescendientes, resultado concordante con otro estudio en colombianas que también utilizó EC (3) . Un estudio que evaluó dominio psicológico en 1 054 climatéricas de distintas etnias con el Midlife Women's Symptoms Index, demostró que las afroamericanas manifestaron menor núme-ro y severidad de alteraciones psicológicas que las hispánicas (21) . Por el contrario, con MRS, las afrodescendientes presentaron mayor deterioro psíquico que las hispánicas e indígenas (5,6) .…”

“…Las preguntas se agrupan en cuatro dominios: menopausia/salud (incluye tres subdominios: síntomas vasomotores, salud y envejecimiento), psíquico, sexualidad y relación de pareja. Cada pregunta es tipo Likert: 0 [no presente], 1-2-3-4 [intermedios] y 5 [mucho], siendo de mejor a peor en las preguntas negativas [1, 2,3,5,6,7,9,10,11,12,14,16,17,18,19,21,23,24,25,27,28,29, 31] y lo contrario en las positivas [4,8,13,15,20,22,26,30]. Las sumas crean el puntaje de los dominios y entre estos el global, que va de 0 a 155.…”

Anxiety and hot flashes as predictors of mid-life palpitations: getting to the heart of the matter in the time of COVID-19

“…Just as with hot flashes, the prevalence of palpitations varies significantly by race/ethnicity, suggesting the importance of cultural attitudes, social salience, and lifestyle differences 12,16 . Indeed, Asian-American women have typically demonstrated fewer and milder menopause symptoms including palpitations than most other ethnic groups, 9,17-19 prompting one group of researchers to conclude that Asian-American midlife women may not be a high-risk group for targeting preventive health interventions for cardiovascular disease 11 .…”

“…15 Just as with hot flashes, the prevalence of palpitations varies significantly by race/ethnicity, suggesting the importance of cultural attitudes, social salience, and lifestyle differences. 12,16 Indeed, Asian-American women have typically demonstrated fewer and milder menopause symptoms including palpitations than most other ethnic groups, 9,[17][18][19] prompting one group of researchers to conclude that Asian-American midlife women may not be a high-risk group for targeting preventive health interventions for cardiovascular disease. 11 The lower rates of menopause symptoms have been attributed to a lower body mass index on average coupled with higher soy intake, lower smoking rates, and possible differences in hormone metabolism, 3 but in the Hilo study, BMI and soy intake did not account for fewer hot flashes in Japanese Americans, 9 again pointing to cultural context.…”