Factors associated with quality of life in a cohort of postmenopausal women.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate quality of life (QOL) and identify its associated factors in a cohort of postmenopausal women who had not received hormone therapy.

METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 81 postmenopausal women who had not used hormone therapy in the last six months. Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, in addition to the prevalence of menopausal symptoms, were evaluated. QOL was assessed by the Medical Outcomes Study 36-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) questionnaire, which may be condensed into two summaries: Physical Component Summary and Mental Component Summary. Generalized linear models were used to analyze the data, allowing the identification of factors affecting QOL, adjusting for confounding variables.

RESULTS: The mean (+/-standard deviation) age of the participants was 58.1 +/- 4.7 years. The most prevalent symptoms were nervousness (67%) and hot flushes and sweating (51%). Factors associated with poorer QOL were sweating, palpitations, nervousness (physical component), and dizziness, nervousness, depression, insomnia and dyspareunia (mental component).

CONCLUSION: We observed that menopausal symptoms negatively affected the physical and mental components of QOL in postmenopausal women.