Quality of life after the menopause: a population study

To assess the impact of menopause and some sociodemographic variables on quality of life (QoL).

Four hundred and eighty-one women aged 40-59 years attending the Southern Metropolitan Health Service in Santiago de Chile were studied using the Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire for Menopause from Toronto University.

Univariate analysis showed that menopausal women have worse QoL scores than women conserving cycles in the four areas of the questionnaire: They show a 10.6-fold higher risk for suffering vasomotor disorders affecting QoL, a 3.5-fold higher risk for psychosocial impairment, a 5.7-fold higher risk for physical disorders, and a 3.2-fold higher risk for sexual disorders (P < 0.0001). Regarding the influence of social markers (age, marital status, school years, work, number of children and sexual activity), housewives were found to have higher, worse, scores than working women in all test components (vasomotor, 3.11+/-1.90 versus 2.57+/-1.71, P < 0.003; psychosocial, 3.44+/-1.59 versus 2.92+/-1.45, P < 0.0007; physical, 3.45+/-1.36 versus 2.96+/-1.20, P < 0.0001; sexual, 3.63+/-2.23 versus 2.49+/-1.95, P < 0.0001). However, logistic regression demonstrated that the only variable found to cause a significant impairment in QoL was menopause.

Menopause causes a decrease in quality of life, which is independent from age and other sociodemographic variables.