Statistical factor analysis and cluster analysis in the etiology of climacteric symptoms.
Factor analysis and cluster analysis were applied to a set of 17 climacteric symptoms data obtained from 194 premenopausal and postmenopausal women. Six distinct factors were extracted and the women were divided into 7 groups by hierarchical cluster analysis in terms of their factor scores. Only one representative factor was identified in 3 groups out of the 7. These 3 groups including 87 women were tentatively designated as vasomotor symptom, neurotic, and sensory disturbance groups. These results confirmed statistically that at least 3 simple etiological factors exist among climacteric symptoms.
D000328:Adult; D002979:Climacteric; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008593:Menopause; D008875:Middle Aged; D009497:Neurotic Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D014666:Vasomotor System / Q000502:physiology