Menopausal symptoms and the awareness of menopausal-related information in low-income mid-aged women from Guayaquil, Ecuador
Objective To assess menopausal symptoms and determine awareness of menopausal related information in mid-aged women.Methods This was a cross-sectional study in which 140 women aged 40 to 60 years from Guayaquil, Ecuador were surveyed with the short 10-item Cervantes Scale (CS-10) and a questionnaire...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Taylor & Francis Group
2024-12-01
|
| Series: | Gynecological Endocrinology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/09513590.2024.2333418 |
| _version_ | 1826922222730608640 |
|---|---|
| author | Danny Salazar-Pousada Valeria Ortega-Uscocovich Cecibel Ramírez-Morán Peter Chedraui |
| author_facet | Danny Salazar-Pousada Valeria Ortega-Uscocovich Cecibel Ramírez-Morán Peter Chedraui |
| author_sort | Danny Salazar-Pousada |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Objective To assess menopausal symptoms and determine awareness of menopausal related information in mid-aged women.Methods This was a cross-sectional study in which 140 women aged 40 to 60 years from Guayaquil, Ecuador were surveyed with the short 10-item Cervantes Scale (CS-10) and a questionnaire containing personal data and questions assessing awareness of menopause related information.Results The mean age of the sample was 48.0 ± 5.6 years. More than half of surveyed women had low education and non-urban residency, none were on menopausal hormone therapy, 33.6% had hypertension, 35% were postmenopausal, 78.6% had an increased body mass index (overweight/obese) and 92.9% had abdominal obesity (waist > 88 cm). The average CS-10 score was 15.3 ± 9.0 with a median of 14.0. The three most frequent menopausal symptoms were muscle-joint pain (75.0%), changes in skin texture (74.3%) and vaginal dryness (71.4%). Regarding awareness of information related to the menopause, it was found that 98.6% of women had no idea about what the menopause is and the average age of its onset. Interestingly, although 61.4% knew that during the menopause there is weight gain, 57.9% were sedentary. Married, postmenopausal, older and less educated women presented higher mean total CS-10 scores. Contrarily, those with less awareness of menopause related information present lower scores.Conclusion In this low-income mid-aged female sample there was a high rate of non-awareness regarding information related to the menopause, including an unhealthy cardiometabolic profile. There is a need for educational programs aimed to increase awareness in this high-risk population in relation to the surveyed aspects in order to improve their health status and prevent chronic conditions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T15:21:53Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f3298874e66a4671a49fd8762fb49901 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0951-3590 1473-0766 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-02-17T14:01:58Z |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Gynecological Endocrinology |
| spelling | doaj.art-f3298874e66a4671a49fd8762fb499012024-12-24T14:09:02ZengTaylor & Francis GroupGynecological Endocrinology0951-35901473-07662024-12-0140110.1080/09513590.2024.2333418Menopausal symptoms and the awareness of menopausal-related information in low-income mid-aged women from Guayaquil, EcuadorDanny Salazar-Pousada0Valeria Ortega-Uscocovich1Cecibel Ramírez-Morán2Peter Chedraui3Instituto de Investigación e Innovación en Salud Integral, Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil, Guayaquil, EcuadorInvestigador Médico Asociado al Proyecto C.O.S.M.E, Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil, Guayaquil, EcuadorInstituto de Investigación e Innovación en Salud Integral, Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil, Guayaquil, EcuadorEscuela de Posgrado en Salud, Universidad Espíritu Santo, Samborondón, EcuadorObjective To assess menopausal symptoms and determine awareness of menopausal related information in mid-aged women.Methods This was a cross-sectional study in which 140 women aged 40 to 60 years from Guayaquil, Ecuador were surveyed with the short 10-item Cervantes Scale (CS-10) and a questionnaire containing personal data and questions assessing awareness of menopause related information.Results The mean age of the sample was 48.0 ± 5.6 years. More than half of surveyed women had low education and non-urban residency, none were on menopausal hormone therapy, 33.6% had hypertension, 35% were postmenopausal, 78.6% had an increased body mass index (overweight/obese) and 92.9% had abdominal obesity (waist > 88 cm). The average CS-10 score was 15.3 ± 9.0 with a median of 14.0. The three most frequent menopausal symptoms were muscle-joint pain (75.0%), changes in skin texture (74.3%) and vaginal dryness (71.4%). Regarding awareness of information related to the menopause, it was found that 98.6% of women had no idea about what the menopause is and the average age of its onset. Interestingly, although 61.4% knew that during the menopause there is weight gain, 57.9% were sedentary. Married, postmenopausal, older and less educated women presented higher mean total CS-10 scores. Contrarily, those with less awareness of menopause related information present lower scores.Conclusion In this low-income mid-aged female sample there was a high rate of non-awareness regarding information related to the menopause, including an unhealthy cardiometabolic profile. There is a need for educational programs aimed to increase awareness in this high-risk population in relation to the surveyed aspects in order to improve their health status and prevent chronic conditions.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/09513590.2024.2333418Menopausal symptoms10-item cervantes scaleawarenessmenopausal informationmenopause |
| spellingShingle | Danny Salazar-Pousada Valeria Ortega-Uscocovich Cecibel Ramírez-Morán Peter Chedraui Menopausal symptoms and the awareness of menopausal-related information in low-income mid-aged women from Guayaquil, Ecuador Gynecological Endocrinology Menopausal symptoms 10-item cervantes scale awareness menopausal information menopause |
| title | Menopausal symptoms and the awareness of menopausal-related information in low-income mid-aged women from Guayaquil, Ecuador |
| title_full | Menopausal symptoms and the awareness of menopausal-related information in low-income mid-aged women from Guayaquil, Ecuador |
| title_fullStr | Menopausal symptoms and the awareness of menopausal-related information in low-income mid-aged women from Guayaquil, Ecuador |
| title_full_unstemmed | Menopausal symptoms and the awareness of menopausal-related information in low-income mid-aged women from Guayaquil, Ecuador |
| title_short | Menopausal symptoms and the awareness of menopausal-related information in low-income mid-aged women from Guayaquil, Ecuador |
| title_sort | menopausal symptoms and the awareness of menopausal related information in low income mid aged women from guayaquil ecuador |
| topic | Menopausal symptoms 10-item cervantes scale awareness menopausal information menopause |
| url | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/09513590.2024.2333418 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT dannysalazarpousada menopausalsymptomsandtheawarenessofmenopausalrelatedinformationinlowincomemidagedwomenfromguayaquilecuador AT valeriaortegauscocovich menopausalsymptomsandtheawarenessofmenopausalrelatedinformationinlowincomemidagedwomenfromguayaquilecuador AT cecibelramirezmoran menopausalsymptomsandtheawarenessofmenopausalrelatedinformationinlowincomemidagedwomenfromguayaquilecuador AT peterchedraui menopausalsymptomsandtheawarenessofmenopausalrelatedinformationinlowincomemidagedwomenfromguayaquilecuador |