Association between menopausal status and physical function: A systematic review protocol

Physical function is considered an important marker of adverse health outcomes. Postmenopausal women seem to have worse physical function, but conflicting results have been reported in the literature. The aim of this systematic review is to assess the association between menopausal status and physical function in community-dwelling women.

Cross-sectional and/or longitudinal studies which objectively or subjectively assess physical function at different menopausal stages will be included. Studies conducted in institutionalized populations or with any specific medical condition that may have induced menopause (i.e. cancer or degenerative diseases) will be excluded. This systematic review protocol follows the recommendations of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P). The searches will be carried out in the Pubmed, Embase, SciELO (Scientific Electronic Library Online), LILACS (Latin American and Caribbean Literature on Health Sciences), VHL (Virtual Health Library), Scopus and Web of Science databases, using the search equation "Menopause AND (Physical Performance OR Function)". The Quality Assessment Tool for Observational Cohort and Cross-Sectional Studies will be considered to assess the methodological quality of the included studies. The selection and evaluation of the methodological quality of the studies will be carried out by independent researchers and the discrepancies will be resolved by a separate researcher.

Ethical approval is not required as this is a study using secondary data. The results will be published in a scientific journal. We intend to contribute to the expansion of knowledge regarding physical function of women according to the menopause status, thus helping in the perspective of improving health and functioning. This systematic review started in January 2022 and all steps are expected to be finished by October 2022.

CRD42021289899.