Article

Menopause and determinants of quality of life in women at midlife and beyond: the study of health in pomerania (SHIP).

Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Clinical Research Center of Women's Health, Berlin, Germany.
Menopause (impact factor: 3.76). 12/2006; 14(1):123-34. DOI:10.1097/01.gme.0000227860.58097.e9 pp.123-34
Source: PubMed

ABSTRACT Determinants of quality of life (QoL) in pre- and postmenopausal women including nonhormonal modulators of QoL in adult women are not well understood; there is an ongoing controversy about the impact of menopause on health-related QoL. We investigated the extent to which diverse mental and physical symptoms are associated with (a) menopausal status; (b) sociodemographic, psychosocial, and lifestyle factors; and (c) menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) in adult women after the German reunification in a region of the former German Democratic Republic.
The Study of Health in Pomerania is a cross-sectional, population-based survey. Computer-based structured interviews and self-administered questionnaires were used to capture QoL (Zerssen Symptom List) and sociodemographic parameters, psychosocial, and lifestyle indicators (age, socioeconomic status, abuse, social support, nutrition, body mass index, self-rated health, chronic diseases, and use of MHT) in 1,119 pre- and postmenopausal women with an intact uterus.
Analyses suggest that menopausal status was not associated with QoL. MHT was associated with physical, mental, and gastrointestinal symptoms. Age was a significant predictor for cardiopulmonary symptoms and sensory impairment. The relationship between age and both physical and mental complaints was inverse as was the relationship between age and both mood and gastrointestinal symptoms. Age, socioeconomic status, physical and sexual abuse, perceived social support, nutrition, body mass index, self-rated health, chronic diseases, and MHT modulated QoL.
Our findings do not support the hypothesis that QoL is reduced after menopause. Differences between pre- and postmenopausal women can be explained by sociodemographic, psychosocial, and lifestyle factors.

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Keywords

body mass index
 
capture QoL
 
cardiopulmonary symptoms
 
diverse mental
 
former German Democratic Republic
 
gastrointestinal symptoms
 
health-related QoL
 
intact uterus
 
lifestyle indicators
 
menopausal status
 
MHT modulated QoL
 
physical symptoms
 
population-based survey
 
self-rated health
 
sensory impairment
 
sexual abuse
 
significant predictor
 
social support
 
sociodemographic parameters
 
socioeconomic status