Menopausal symptoms and risk factors in Chinese women: a multicenter cross-sectional study

This study aimed to examine menopausal symptoms and their associated factors among premenopausal, perimenopausal and postmenopausal groups of middle-aged Chinese women.

The nationwide cross-sectional study involved 9740 middle-aged women from 115 medical centers across 27 provinces in China. Logistic regression analyses were performed to explore the associations between menopausal symptom severity and age, menopausal status, body mass index (BMI), smoking, employment status, income, education level, exercise and alcohol use.

Among the 9740 participants, 17.6% (n = 1711) were premenopausal, 38.3% (n = 3730) were perimenopausal and 44.1% (n = 4299) were postmenopausal. The likelihood of moderate to severe menopausal symptoms was positively associated with age (odds ratio [OR] 1.10; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.09-1.11; p < 0.001), perimenopause (OR 2.15; 95% CI 1.90-2.45; p < 0.001) and postmenopausal stage (OR 5.96; 95% CI 5.25-6.77; p < 0.001), smoking (OR 1.96; 95% CI 1.39-2.77; p < 0.001) and unemployment (OR 1.47; 95% CI 1.31-1.65; p < 0.001). In contrast, higher income was inversely associated with symptom severity (OR 0.69; 95% CI 0.58-0.82; p < 0.001). BMI demonstrated a positive association with symptom severity in premenopausal women.

Age, menopausal status, smoking, unemployment and lower income were associated with more severe menopausal symptoms.