Abstract
Objective
To investigate the factors associated with the age of natural menopause and menopausal
symptoms in a large population of Chinese middle-aged women.
Study design
In this cross-sectional study, a total of 20,275 women (40–65 years) attending health
screening in Jiangsu Province of China were enrolled. A structured questionnaire was
used to collect data of demographics, menopausal status, chronic diseases, reproductive
history, etc. Also we evaluated the severity of menopausal symptoms by Kupperman menopause
index (KMI).
Main outcome measure
Menopausal age and scorings of Kupperman menopause index.
Results
The overall median age at natural menopause was 50 years. Lower educational level,
poor economic status, lower body mass index (BMI), age at menarche less than 14 years,
nulliparity and smoking were associated with earlier onset of natural menopause (P < 0.05). The most frequently symptoms in postmenopausal women were sexual problems (57.05%),
muscle/joint pain (53.29%) and insomnia (51.02%), while fatigue, insomnia and muscle/joint
pain were predominant symptoms in pre- and peri-menopausal women. After adjusting
for confounding factors, logistic regression analysis revealed that women with poor
educational background, low income, divorce, higher BMI, higher parity, smoking and
chronic diseases presented higher KMI scores (P < 0.05).
Conclusion
The study provided an estimate of median age at natural menopause in Chinese women.
The main factors contributing to earlier onset of menopause and severity of menopausal
symptoms were lower educational level, poor economic status, and smoking. Thus, this
study provides important insights for physicians to prevent and treat menopause related
symptoms.
Abbreviations:
BMI (body mass index), CHD (coronary heart disease), CI (confidence interval), HR (hazard ratio), HRT (hormone replacement therapy), KMI (Kupperman menopause index), LMP (last menstrual period), OC (oral contraceptive), OR (odds ratio), SD (standard deviation), STRAW (Stages of Reproductive Aging Workshop), SWAN (Study of Women's Health Across the Nation)Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: September 26, 2012
Accepted:
September 11,
2012
Received in revised form:
September 4,
2012
Received:
July 15,
2012
Identification
Copyright
© 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
