An extended Menopause Rating Scale II: a retrospective data analysis.

Area of Science:

• Reproductive Medicine
• Clinical Assessment Tools
• Women's Health

Background:

• The Menopause Rating Scale II (MRS II) is a standard tool for assessing menopausal symptoms.
• Enhancing the MRS II could improve its utility in clinical practice.

Purpose of the Study:

• To statistically evaluate the inclusion of additional parameters in the Menopause Rating Scale II (MRS II).
• To determine if extending the MRS II enhances its internal consistency for daily clinical use.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective data analysis of 419 women attending a menopause center.
• Extended the MRS II with parameters: 'changes in weight', 'headaches', 'skin changes', 'changes in hair growth', 'hair loss', and desire for therapy.
• Cronbach's alpha was used to measure the internal consistency of the extended questionnaire.

Main Results:

• Including 'changes in weight', 'headaches', or 'skin changes' individually slightly increased the MRS II's internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha from 0.805 to 0.815-0.820).
• Adding these three parameters simultaneously increased internal consistency to 0.835.
• Desire for therapy varied significantly among the added symptoms.

Conclusions:

• Suggesting the inclusion of 'changes in weight', 'headaches', and 'skin changes' in the MRS II.
• These additions improve internal consistency and reflect high patient-reported desire for therapy.
• The enhanced MRS II offers a more statistically sound assessment for clinical practice.