Factors associated with menopausal symptom reporting in Chinese midlife women

Objectives: this paper examines whether menopausal status, sociodemographic factors, self-perceived health, and social stress are related to symptom reporting in a community-based sample of Chinese women in midlife. Methods: a random telephone survey of perimenopausal women aged 44–55 years was conducted in 1996. Eligible subjects were identified through telephone dialling of a random sample of the numbers listed in the residents’ telephone directory. Standardized questionnaire on social and health information, as well as a 21-item symptom checklist, were administered over the telephone. Logistic regress analyses were performed to find out if menopausal status and other social and health factors were independently associated with overall symptom reporting as well as high prevalence of reporting of each of the five symptom groups — psychological, musculoskeletal, non-specific somatic, respiratory and vasomotor. Results: we observed that compared with premenopausal women, women going through menopausal transition had a 2.3- to threefold increased risk of reporting more symptoms. The prevalence of symptom reporting was lower in postmenopausal women, but remained slightly elevated compared with premenopausal women. Factors including currently not working, decreased household income in the past year, worry over friends/relatives, and health affecting daily activities were also independently associated with symptom reporting. Among these factors, reporting health affecting daily activities had the strongest association with symptom reporting. Conclusions: compared with pre and postmenopausal women, perimenopausal women had the highest reports of symptom complaints. Social, psychological and health factors were also independently associated with symptom reporting.