Caracterização da qualidade de vida segundo o estado menopausal entre mulheres da Região Sul do Brasil

Quality of life in climacteric women assisted by primary health care

This cross-sectional study evaluated the quality of life and associated factors of climacteric women in Brazil using a random and representative sample of women assisted by primary care professionals. We investigated the variables using the Menopause-Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire, MENQOL, whose mean scores were compared using Mann–Whitney and Kruskal–Wallis tests according to the sample characteristics. The variables associated with the outcomes in univariate analyses with a p≤0.2 were jointly evaluated using multiple linear regression. In this study, 849 women ranging in age from 40 to 65 years were evaluated. The predictors of poor quality of life in the vasomotor domain were women with severe climacteric symptoms (p<0.001), increased Body Mass Index (BMI) (p = 0.006), sleep (p = 0.022), and postmenopausal (p<0.001) alterations. For the psychosocial domain, the associated variables were severe climacteric symptoms (p<0.001) and sleep alterations (p<0.001); for the physical domain, the associated variables were severe climacteric symptoms (p<0.001), increased BMI (p<0.001), sleep (p<0.001), and postmenopausal (p<0.001) alterations. Severe climacteric symptoms, low sleep quality, increased BMI, and postmenopausal status were factors that were more associated with impairments in quality of life. With the increase in life expectancy, we suggest that greater attention should be paid to women’s quality of life associated with climacteric symptoms.

Hatha Yoga practice decreases menopause symptoms and improves quality of life: A randomized controlled trial

OBJECTIVES

Yoga practice includes a group of specific psychophysical techniques. Although previous studies showed beneficial effects of yoga for health and rehabilitation, improving quality of life, there are few studies on the possible therapeutic application of yoga during the climacteric period. The purpose of this study was to investigate the psychophysiological effects of Hatha Yoga regular practice in post-menopausal women.

METHODS

Eighty-eight post-menopausal women volunteered for this 12-week trial. They were randomly assigned to one of three groups: control (no intervention), exercise, and yoga. Questionnaires were applied in order to evaluate climacteric syndrome (Menopause Rating Scale), stress (Lipp Stress Symptom Inventory), quality of life (Brief World Health Organization Quality of Life), depression (Beck Depression Inventory) and anxiety (State/Trait Anxiety Inventories). Physiological changes were evaluated through hormone levels (cortisol, FSH, LH, progesterone and estradiol).

RESULTS

At 12 weeks, yoga practitioners showed statistically lower scores for menopausal symptoms, stress levels and depression symptoms, as well as significantly higher scores in quality of life when compared to control and exercise groups. Only control group presented a significant increase in cortisol levels. The yoga and exercise groups showed decreased levels of FSH and LH when compared to control group.

CONCLUSIONS

These results suggest that yoga promotes positive psychophysiological changes in post-menopausal women and may be applied as a complementary therapy towards this population.

Imagem corporal, humor e qualidade de vida

OBJETIVO: Caracterizar, quanto a imagem corporal, humor e qualidade de vida, mulheres pós-menopáusicas que buscam atendimento de fisioterapia dermatofuncional, dermatologia e medicina estética. MATERIAIS E MÉTODOS: Estudo transversal com 46 mulheres que buscaram atendimento estético em três locais na cidade de Porto Alegre-RS, Brasil. Foram coletados dados sociodemográficos e de saúde. Foram aplicados os instrumentos: Escala de Depressão Geriátrica GDS-15, questionário de qualidade de vida WHOQOL-bref e Escala de Silhuetas de Stunkard. Para avaliar a associação entre as variáveis, os coeficientes de correlação de Pearson ou Spearman foram utilizados. O nível de significância adotado foi de 5% p≤0,05. As análises foram realizadas no programa SPSS versão 18.0. RESULTADOS: Verificou-se que a maioria das participantes estava insatisfeita com sua imagem corporal, tinha alto nível de satisfação com sua qualidade de vida e não apresentava sintomatologia depressiva. CONCLUSÃO: Para as participantes do estudo, a satisfação com a imagem corporal está relacionada a melhor qualidade de vida, menor probabilidade de apresentar sintomas depressivos, menor índice de massa corporal e maior renda pessoal e familiar.

How to evaluate quality of life in overweight and obese women during climacterium?

Objective: identifying the instruments used to measure quality of life during menopausal transition and post-menopause in women with obesity or overweight. Methods: a systematic search using the Embase, Pubmed and Cochrane databases, and the following key-words: menopause/climacteric, quality of life, overweight/obesity. Nineteen papers that fulfilled the including criteria were found. Results: eighteen studies using generic health questionnaires (global quality of life) were identified, six of them were specific for menopause and one specific for obesity. Eleven studies used generic questionnaires, while only eight questionnaires were specific for menopause. Conclusion: there was no consensus in the literature about the use of quality of life questionnaires in women with overweight and obesity in climacterium, which makes de comparison and reproducibility of the results difficult. This is an alert about the need for standardization to better evaluate this specific population.