Menopause characteristics of women with physical disabilities from poliomyelitis

Kalpakjian, Claire Z.; Quint, Elisabeth H.; Tate, Denise G.; Roller, Sunny; Toussaint, Loren L.

doi:10.1016/j.maturitas.2006.07.006

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Volume 56, Issue 2 , Pages 161-172, 20 February 2007

Menopause characteristics of women with physical disabilities from poliomyelitis

Claire Z. Kalpakjian
- Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Michigan Health System, 300 N. Ingalls, NI 2A09, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-0491, United States
- Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 734 763 9374; fax: +1 734 936 5492.
Elisabeth H. Quint
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
Denise G. Tate
- Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Michigan Health System, 300 N. Ingalls, NI 2A09, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-0491, United States
Sunny Roller
- National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation, U.S. Department of Education, Washington, DC, United States
Loren L. Toussaint
- Department of Psychology, Luther College, Decorah, IA, United States

Received 10 October 2005; received in revised form 11 July 2006; accepted 21 July 2006. published online 10 August 2006.

Abstract

Objective

To describe menopause characteristics of women with physical disabilities from poliomyelitis.

Methods

Nine hundred and nine women with a history of poliomyelitis completed a survey on health, physical functioning, emotional well being and menopause.

Results

The majority of the sample was postmenopausal having had a natural menopause around the average age of 50.3 years; 34.7% of the sample had had hysterectomies. Thirty-nine percent were using some form of hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Menopause symptoms were clustered into psychological, somatic-sensory, somatic-sleep and vasomotor factors. Among never and past HRT users, there were significant differences in menopause factor severity by menopause status. Somatic/sleep symptoms were lowest in never users; past users had significantly higher vasomotor symptoms; desire for sexual activity and painful intercourse did not vary by HRT use. Compared to population estimates, post-polio women had similar rates of hysterectomies overall, but among some age cohorts they had significantly lower rates, contrary to expectations. However, they used HRT at significantly higher rates than expected.

Conclusions

This study suggests that basic menopause characteristics of women with polio are generally similar to those of their non-disabled peers. There were few substantial differences in severity of menopause symptoms by HRT use, which is critical in light of the dearth of studies examining its risk–benefit ratio among women with physical disabilities. Until such studies provide some evidence of the specific risks or benefits to women with physical disability, each woman should carefully weigh the known risks and benefits with her physician.

Keywords: Menopause, Women, People with disabilities, Poliomyelitis, Hormone therapy