The Relationship between Physical Activity and General Health among Menopausal Women in Ahvaz, Iran

Influence of physical activity level and perceived social support on mental health and psychological distress in women with menopause problems

Perceived Social Support (PSS) and Physical Activity (PA) could have an important role in reducing psychological distress in women with problems in the menopausal period. The aim was to analyze the associations between a) Self-Perceived Health (SPH), prevalence of self-reported depression and anxiety, and mental health and its subscales, through the Goldberg General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) with b) the Physical Activity Level (PAL) and c) the PSS, through the Duke-UNC-11 functional social support questionnaire in Spanish women with problems in the menopausal period. This document uses data from the Spanish National Health Survey of 2017, focusing on women between 40 and 69 years of age with problems in the menopausal period. Dependency relationships were found between the prevalence of depression and PAL, anxiety and PAL, and SPH with PAL (p < 0.001). Weak inverse correlations were found between PAL and mental health, Coping Success, Self-confidence, and Stress (rho: - 0.214 to - 0.258; p < 0.001). Also, weak and very weak significant inverse correlations were found between PAL and all items of the GHQ-12. Weak inverse correlations were found between PSS scores and mental health, Coping, and Stress (r: -0.201 to - 0.304; p < 0.001). Likewise, weak and very weak inverse correlations, although statistically significant, were found between the PSS scores and the responses to the GHQ-12 items. Very active women with higher PSS have less psychological distress, higher self-esteem, and better prevalence of positive health.

Personalised Nutritional Plan and Resistance Exercise Program to Improve Health Parameters in Celiac Women

Celiac disease (CD) is a permanent immune reaction to gluten in those with a genetic predisposition. This study was designed to evaluate menopause-associated symptoms, mood, bone quality, and IgA antibody levels in women with CD, untreated and treated with a gluten-free diet (GFD), and with or without resistance exercise. The randomised controlled trial was conducted on 28 Spanish women (>40 years old). Participants were divided into the following intervention groups: personalised gluten-free nutrition plan + exercise (GFD + E); personalised gluten-free nutrition plan (GFD); celiac controls (NO-GFD); and non-celiac controls (CONTROL). The participants responded to the Menopause Rating Scale and the Profile of Mood States (POMS) questionnaires. Bone quality was measured with ultrasound and IgA with a blood test. After 12 weeks of intervention, the GFD + E group showed significant improvement in urogenital symptoms and scored higher on the ‘vigour’ subscale of the POMS. Negative associations were found between the total score on the Menopause Rating Scale and the ‘vigour’ subscale of the POMS questionnaire. Only those women who underwent a personalised GFD nutritional intervention combined with resistance exercise demonstrated significant changes after the intervention.

Associations between adherence to the MIND diet and prevalence of psychological disorders, and sleep disorders severity among obese and overweight women: A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

The effect of dietary patterns on sleep disorders and mental illness has previously been investigated. However, these studies have reported contradictory findings, and thus, the present study aimed to assess the association of the MIND diet on the sleep pattern and mental health in obese women.

METHODS

This is a cross-sectional study in which 282 women, aged 18-56 years with BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2.with no underlying diseases and malignancies, and participated. We used a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) to collect participant's dietary intake. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) were used to measure the status of sleep disturbance and psychological disorders, including depression, anxiety, and stress respectively.

RESULTS

A decreasing trend for psychological stress was observed in the highest quartiles of MIND diet score vs. the lowest quartiles (OR = 0.6 CI: 0.23-1.5 vs. 1.16 CI: 0.55-2.47). No significant difference was observed between severity of depression (OR = 0.87 95%, CI: 0.7-1.09, P = 0.23), anxiety (OR = 1.02, 95% CI: 0.81-1.27, P = 0.86), stress (OR = 0.99 95%, CI: 0.79-1.23, P = 0.92), and MIND diet adherence in the crude and adjusted models.

CONCLUSION

The main finding from this study was that there is no significant association between adherence to the MIND diet and studied psychological disorders.

The effect of physical activity and depressive mood on menopausal symptoms in postmenopausal women

AIMS

The symptoms of menopause in postmenopausal women adversely affect the quality of life. Menopausal symptoms are more severe with comorbid disorders such as depression; it may be lighter in physically active people. The present study aimed to evaluate the relationship between menopausal symptoms and physical activity and depressive mood.

MATERIAL AND METHOD

One hundred and ninety women under 65 years of age who were at least 1 year passed since their last menstrual period participated in the study. Sociodemographic data form, Menopause Symptom Rating Scale, International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form and Beck's Depression Inventory were applied to the participants.

RESULTS

It was seen that 51.6% (98 subjects) of the women who participated in the study had severe menopausal symptoms. 52.6% (100 subjects) of the participants were physically inactive, and their menopausal symptoms increased as the physical activity scale score decreased (P = .001). Menopausal symptoms increased as the Beck's Depression Inventory score increased (P < .001). It was observed that depression inventory scores decreased as the level of physical activity increased (P < .001).

CONCLUSION

Adoption of regular physical activity habits by postmenopausal women and providing treatment to those with depression will contribute to alleviating the severity of menopausal symptoms.

High Physical Activity Level May Reduce Menopausal Symptoms

Background and Objectives: Menopause is a normal physiological change occurring at a woman's mid-life. During this time, women experience vasomotor, physical and physiological problems, which reduce their quality of life. Many women are searching for different, alternative methods to reduce the severity of menopausal symptoms. Physical activity (PA) is one of the recommended methods to reduce menopausal symptoms. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between specific domains (physical activity during leisure time, at work, during transportation and household activities) and the menopausal symptoms. Materials and Methods: We included 305 women aged 40-65 in the study. All participants were divided into three groups according to menopausal status. The research tools used were the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) to assess physical activity level in four domains and the Menopause Rating Scale (MRS) to assess the severity of menopausal symptoms. The data analysis was performed by Chi-square test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) with post hoc Tuckey test. Results: Menopausal stage was significantly associated with the total MRS score (p < 0.001) and specifically the urogenital and somato-vegetative subscores (p < 0.001). Physical activity was significantly associated (p < 0.001) with leisure time (according to IPAQ domains). Most postmenopausal women had high PA level (59.66%). Significantly less women with high PA levels had severe urogenital symptoms: 10.82% of participant with a low PA level, 11.15% with a moderate PA level and 4.26% with a high PA level (p = 0.046). Conclusions: Physical activity during leisure time is associated to menopausal symptoms in Polish women. Women with high and moderate PA levels have less severe menopausal symptoms compared to inactive women. Middle-aged women with low PA levels at work suffer from more severe somato-vegetative symptoms.

The relationship between pre-pregnancy dietary patterns adherence and risk of gestational diabetes mellitus in Iran: A case-control study

AIM

The present study aimed to investigate major dietary patterns and their association with risk of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in Yazd city located in Iran.

METHODS

This case-control designed study was conducted at six healthcare centres. Two hundred and seventy-eight pregnant women who referred for GDM screening participated. Dietary assessment was carried out by using a 67-item validated food frequency questionnaire to evaluate dietary history of participants during the last year. Principal component analysis was used to identify major food patterns. Multivariable logistic regression model was employed to identify the association between dietary patterns and risk of GDM.

RESULTS

Two major dietary patterns were detected. The Western dietary pattern was associated with higher intakes of sugar-sweetened beverages, refined grain products, fast foods, salty snacks, sweets and biscuit, mayonnaise and saturated oils, while the prudent dietary pattern was associated with higher intakes of fruits, low-fat dairy, potato, egg, fish, poultry, nuts, organs meat and red meat. Furthermore, prudent dietary pattern was negatively associated with GDM risk (OR = 0.88, 95% CI: 0.44-0.99). However, there was no significant association between adherence of the Western dietary pattern and risk of GDM.

CONCLUSIONS

Pre-pregnancy adherence of the prudent dietary pattern was significantly associated with reduced risk of GDM.

Effectiveness of the teach-back method in improving self-care activities in postmenopausal women

Introduction

Menopause is a physiological process during which women can improve their quality of life by taking proper self-care measures. Performing self-care requires proper and effective training. The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of self-care training programs based on the teach-back method on the self-care status in postmenopausal women.

Material and methods

The present clinical trial was conducted in 2016 in Gonabad, in the east of Iran. Eighty postmenopausal women, whose last menstrual period was 1-5 years earlier, were randomly allocated to an intervention group (n = 40) and a control group (n = 40). The intervention group attended four 45-minute sessions of a training program based on the teach-back method on the principles of self-care during menopause, whereas the control group received no training. Knowledge and self-care status were assessed in all subjects before and one month after implementing the training program. The data were analysed in SPSS-20. P < 0.05 was set as the level of statistical significance.

Results

Before the intervention, no significant differences were observed between the two groups in terms of demographic variables, including age, occupation, level of education, and the time elapsed since the last menstrual period (p > 0.05). No significant differences were observed between the two groups also in terms of the score of knowledge about menopause and self-care practice before the intervention (p > 0.05). The mean scores of knowledge and self-care were found to be significantly higher in the intervention group compared to those in the controls one month after the intervention (p < 0.0001 and p = 0.001, respectively). Statistically significant differences were observed between the two groups in terms of the change scores of knowledge and self-care practice before and one month after the intervention (p < 0.05).

Conclusions

The results showed that the self-care education program based on the teach-back method improves the self-care activities in postmenopausal women. It is therefore recommended that healthcare providers apply this method in menopausal care training programs.

The effect of programmed exercise over anxiety symptoms in midlife and older women: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

We aimed to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis in order to clarify the effect of programmed exercise over mild-to-moderate anxiety symptoms (ASs) in midlife and older women. A structured search of PubMed, Medline, Web of Science, Scopus, Embase, Cochrane Library, Scielo, and the US, UK and Australian Clinical Trials databases (from inception through July 27, 2017) was performed, with no language restriction using the following terms: 'anxiety', 'anxiety symptoms', 'exercise', 'physical activity', 'menopause', and 'randomized controlled trial' (RCTs) in mid-aged and older women. We assessed RCTs that compared the effect of exercise for at least 6 weeks versus no intervention over ASs as outcome (as defined by trial authors). Exercise was classified according to duration as 'mid-term exercise intervention' (MTEI; for 12 weeks to 4 months), and 'long-term exercise intervention' (LTEI; for 6-14 months). Mean ± standard deviations of changes for ASs, as assessed with different questionnaires, were extracted to calculate Hedges' g and then used as effect size for meta-analyses. Standardized mean differences (SMDs) of ASs after intervention were pooled using a random-effects model. Ten publications were included for analysis related to 1463 midlife and older women (minimum age 54.2 ± 3.5 and maximum age 77.6 ± 5.4 years). Eight MTEIs were associated with a significant reduction of ASs (SMD = -0.42; 95% CI -0.81 to -0.02) as compared to controls. There was no reduction of ASs in seven LTEIs (SMD = -0.03; 95% CI -0.18 to 0.13). It can be concluded that MTEIs of low-to-moderate intensity seem to improve mild-moderate ASs in midlife and older women.