Supervisors info:
Δελτσίδου Άννα , Καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Μαιευτικής, ΠΑΔΑ
Λυκερίδου Αικατερίνη ,Καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Μαιευτικής, ΠΑΔΑ
Μακρυγιαννάκης Αντώνιος, Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Ιατρικής, Πανεπιστήμιο Κρήτης
Summary:
With the increase in life expectancy, one-third of a woman's life is related to her post-menopausal life and a large proportion of the female population, respectively, has no ovarian function. It is known that one in three Greek women has moderate to severe climacteric symptoms during the transition to menopause or in the first postmenopausal years. This frequency is comparable to other white populations. In the same study menopausal age, as well as endogenous estrogens were found to be important prognostic markers of climacteric symptoms. Gender steroid levels, including endogenous estrogens, are transiently increased in pregnancy Hormone levels one year postpartum are reduced to lower levels than in the first trimester, similar to those before pregnancy. However, it has not been investigated whether this transient increase has an impact on the later quality of life of menopausal women and therefore whether interest rates could affect menopausal quality of life.
Purpose: The self-assessment of the quality of life of menopausal / postmenopausal women was studied and correlated with their parity. Specifically, it was investigated whether the parity correlated with the overall frequency of menopausal symptoms, with the frequency of symptoms per category of symptoms (physical, psychological, vasomotor, sexual) and whether the low or high body mass index was an independent indicator of body mass index.
Sample & Method: The study was conducted on a sample of 120 perimenopausal and postmenopausal women, during one year (February 2019 to March 2020), in the menopause and gynecological office of the University Hospital of Heraklion in Crete. Concerning the women of the sample, 103 were menopausal and ranged in age from 45 to 62 years, while 17 were used as a control group, as they were not menopausal and ranged in age from 40 to 54 years. The 60 women in the sample were interest-free, while the other 60 had been pregnant at least once in their lifetime. Data were collected by using questionnaires: Menopause specific quality of life questionnaire (MENQOL) and HFRS (Hot Flush Rating Scale) for hot flashes, in combination with somatometric and socio-demographic data of women, including parity. Statistical analysis by using done with SPSS V.25.0 and excel 2016 was performed.
Results: The analysis of the questionnaire MENQOL data showed that nulliparas who were in menopause had more severe menopausal symptoms than women who had children with statistical significance p=0.024. In addition, the results of the evaluation of the frequency of vasomotor symptoms, with HFRS, showed that the higher the parity was, the lower the hot flashes (p= 0.027). Respectively, there was a statistically significant difference in psychological (p= 0.003) and sexual (p= 0.017) symptoms between nulliparous women and those who became pregnant, as the former appear to have more severe discomfort. In contrast, there was no statistically significant difference in physical symptoms between the two groups. Finally, obesity has been shown to be an independent risk factor for developing menopausal symptoms, as women in the 2nd and 1st degree (BMI:23,6 to 40) obesity group had higher scores than women with normal weight (BMI:18,5 to 23,5).
Conclusions: Childbearing during a woman's reproductive life appears to have a positive effect on her subsequent quality of life during menopause, reducing the discomfort resulting from both vasomotor and psychological and sexual symptoms that occur in a large percentage of women during this phase.
Keywords:
Menopause, Post menopause, Quality of life, Vasomotor symptoms, Nulliparous, BMI, MENQOL, HFRS
