Intensification of Menopausal Symptoms Among Female Inhabitants of East European Countries
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Annals of Agricultural and Environmental Medicine 2016, Vol 23, No 3, 517–524 ORIGINAL ARTICLE www.aaem.pl Intensification of menopausal symptoms among female inhabitants of East European countries Iwona Bojar1, Oleh Lyubinets2, Jozef Novotny3, Yaroslav Stanchak4, Evgenii Tiszczenko 5, Alfred Owoc6, Dorota Raczkiewicz7 1 Department for Woman Health, Institute of Rural Health, Lublin, Poland 2 Department Public Health Management, Lviv National Medical University named after Danylo Halytskyi, Ukraine 3 College of Polytechnics, Department of Health Care Studies, JIHLAVA, Czech Republic 4 University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius, Trnava, Slovak Republic 5 State Medical University, Grodno, Belorus 6 Centre for Public Health and Health Promotion, Institute of Rural Health, Lublin, Poland 7 Institute of Statistics and Demography, Warsaw School of Economics, Warsaw, Poland Bojar I, Lyubinets O, Novotny J, Stanchak J, Tiszczenko E, Owoc A, Raczkiewicz D. Intensification of menopausal symptoms among female inhabitants of East European countries. Ann Agric Environ Med. 2016; 23(3): 517–524. doi: 10.5604/12321966.1219198 Abstract The objective of the study was analysis of the occurrence and intensity of menopausal symptoms in postmenopausal women from Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland. The study was conducted during the period 2014–2015 among postmenopausal women living in the areas of Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Czech Republic and Slovakia. The degree of menopausal complaints was assessed using the Kupperman Menopausal Index and Greene Climacteric Scale. The respondents were additionally asked about age, educational level, place of residence, marital status and age at last menstrual period. Into the study were enrolled women aged 50–65, minimum 2 years after the last menstrual period, who had a generally good state of health and did not use hormone replacement therapy. The results were subjected to statistical analysis. The intensity of all menopausal symptoms measured by the Kupperman Menopausal Index and Greene Climacteric Scale was similar in Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia. In these countries, severe, moderate and mild menopausal symptoms measured by Kupperman Menopausal Index occurred with a similar frequency. Similar results were also obtained in the subscales of psychological, somatic and vasomotor symptoms according to the Greene Climacteric Scale. Nearly a half of the women from Belarus did not report symptoms measured by Kupperman Menopausal Index. They obtained significantly lower menopausal complaints in the subscales of psychological and somatic symptoms according to the Greene Climacteric Scale, compared to the inhabitants of the remaining countries. The majority of women from the Ukraine had mild menopausal symptoms as measured by the Kupperman Menopausal Index. They had significantly more severe complaints in the subscales of psychological, somatic and vasomotor symptoms according to the Greene Climacteric Scale, compared to the inhabitants of the remaining countries in the study. The intensity of menopausal symptoms in women from Ukraine and Belarus was related with educational level, place of residence, and marital status, whereas in women from Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia, only with marital status. Key words menopause, menopausal symptoms, Eastern Europe INTRODUCTION attention to the clear tendency towards an increase in the number of women aged 50 and over in all regions [4]. An Menopause means the last menstrual period in the life of a annual increase in the number of women aged over 50 is woman, after which bleeding does not longer occur for the 12 expected to be 2.65%. Also, the WHO European Health consecutive months, and no pathological causes of this state Report 2012 raises alarm concerning the ageing of the are diagnosed. Natural menopause takes place between the European population. According to the prognoses, in 2030 ages of 45–55, according to the population; in the developed there will be 1.2 billion postmenopausal women worldwide countries the mean age at menopause is 51.5 [1, 2]. [5], and by 2050 more than 25% of the European population Demographic data show that every year 25 million women will be aged over 65, with an average life span of 81 years [6]. worldwide experience menopause [3]. The World Bank in the During the menopausal period there occurs the cessation document ‘World Development Report 1993: Investing in of the ovarian hormonal function, especially the deficit Health’, while referring to the past, as well as demographic of estrogens, leading to the development of vasomotor, prognoses for menopausal women until the year 2030, pays psychological, somatic and atrophic changes in the estrogen- dependent tissues, which contribute to the so-called menopausal (climacteric) syndrome. Physiological changes Address for correspondence: Iwona Bojar, Department for Woman Health, Institute of Rural Health in Lublin, Jaczewskiego 2, 20-090 Lublin, Poland of the climacteric period, and additionally overlapping E-mail: [email protected] systemic complaints related with middle age, in combination Received: 10 August 2016; accepted: 02 September 2016 with changes of socio-economic position, affect the general 518 Annals of Agricultural and Environmental Medicine 2016, Vol 23, No 3 Iwona Bojar, Oleh Lyubinets, Jozef Novotny, Yaroslav Stanchak, Evgenii Tiszczenko , Alfred Owoc, Dorota Raczkiewicz. Intensification of menopausal symptoms… physical, psychological and social condition of women, The criteria for inclusion into the study were: age 50–65; and may exert a negative effect on their quality of life. The minimum 2 years after the last menstrual period, generally intensity of complaints of the menopausal syndrome is good state of health, and educational level at least completed usually assessed using the Kupperman Index and Greene primary. The criteria for exclusion from the study were: Scale [7, 8, 9]. chronic diseases, an active cancerous disease within the Cultural diversity has a positive or negative effect on period of 5 years before recruitment; mental diseases in the perception of menopause. The factors related with the medical history, including depression before menopause; perception of menopause are associated with the character of addiction to medicines and alcohol; diagnosed disease with experiences and symptoms related with menopause, sources the symptoms of dementia, and use of hormone replacement and scope of knowledge concerning menopause, and methods therapy. of coping with menopause. The social and cultural platform of the shaping of experiences related with menopause is Research instrument extremely important, because upon this platform depends In all women, the degree of intensity of menopausal symptoms whether this is a positive or a negative – unacceptable was assessed using the Kupperman Menopausal Index and phenomenon. The individual platform is associated with Greene Climacteric Scale [7]. In addition, the respondents personality, coping in difficult situations, co-occurring life were asked about age, educational level, place of residence, events and social support. Apart from personality, the quality marital status and age at the last menstrual period. of life of women after menopause may depend on education Kupperman Menopausal Index was calculated based on and occupational activity [10, 11, 12]. Studies conducted the respondents’ replies concerning the intensity of such among Turkish women provide evidence that neurotic and complaints as: 1) hot flushes, 2) excessive sweating, 3) sleep introvert women obtain lower evaluations of the quality of disorders, 4) irritability, 5) depression, 6) dizziness, 7) lack life after menopause. On the other hand, agreeability allows of energy, 8) osteoarticular pain, 9) headaches, and 10) the obtaining of higher evaluations of the quality of life in cardiac arrhythmia. The evaluation scale was as follows: all domains, except for the general assessment of health not present – 0, mild – 1, moderate – 2, severely expressed [13]. Wieder-Huszla et al. also pay attention to the fact that – 3. After the calculation of the scores obtained from answers extrovert persons have higher evaluations in all domains of the respondents were qualified into four groups: lack of the assessment of the quality of life [11]. symptoms of the menopausal syndrome – below 16 scores, The available sources indicate variations in the occurrence of a set of symptoms of mild intensity 17–25 scores, a set of typical menopausal symptoms in various countries. According symptoms of moderate intensity 26–30 scores, and a set of to the report by the World Health Organization [14], vasomotor symptoms of severe intensity – more than 30 scores. symptoms occur in 10–22% of women from Hong Kong, 17% With respect to the Greene Climacteric Scale, the of women in Japan, 23% of women in Thailand, 45% of women respondents provided answers according to the scale from in North America, and 80% of women in Denmark. In Poland 0–3 (the same as in Kupperman Menopausal Index) to 20 [15], approximately 31% of women experience vasomotor questions concerning the occurrence of the following: 1) heart symptoms, whereas 76% in Norway – [16], 56% in Denmark palpitations 2) feeling of tension or nervousness, 3) sleep – [17], and 75% in Finland – [18]. Studies concerning the disorders, 4) irritation, 5) episodes of panic, 6) difficulties with prevalence of the menopausal symptoms also indicate that concentration, 7) feeling of fatigue or lack of energy, 8) loss