Bothersome symptoms at midlife in relation to body fat percentage

Increasing obesity has been associated with a higher frequency of symptoms at midlife. Bothersomeness represents an important measure of perceived symptom severity, but has received relatively little consideration, and relationships between symptom bothersomeness and obesity are not known. We evaluated the association between body fat percentage (%BF) and the bothersomeness of symptoms at midlife.

This cross-sectional study included women aged 40-60 in Qatar (n = 841). Participants reported frequency and bothersomeness of midlife symptoms hypothesized to be related to body composition. Initially, we characterized the relationship between continuous %BF and presence (yes/no) and bothersomeness (yes/no) for each symptom using restricted cubic spline (RCS) models to test nonlinearity. Subsequently, we used multinomial logistic regressions to evaluate associations between %BF and multilevel symptom outcomes, where categories were: (a) no symptoms or bother, (b) symptoms without bothersomeness, and (c) symptoms with bothersomeness.

The highest frequency of bothersomeness was reported for aches/stiffness in joints (51%), followed by trouble sleeping (34%), night sweats (21%), urinary incontinence (18%), hot flashes (16%), and shortness of breath (15%). In unadjusted multinomial logistic regressions, aches/stiffness in joints with and without bothersomeness had the same significant relationship with %BF. Bothersome night sweats, urinary incontinence, and hot flashes were significantly associated with %BF (p < .05), but those same symptoms without bothersomeness were not significantly associated with %BF.

Our findings suggest that bothersomeness is an important variable that tracks with body fat and gives different information than report of the presence/absence of a symptom alone.