title: Quality of life among postmenopausal Ecuadorian women participating in a metabolic syndrome screening program.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Quality of life decreases after the menopause as it has been assessed by several designed tools. Despite this, few studies have reported correlations between quality of life and the metabolic syndrome and its determinants.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Evaluate quality of life and determine factors related to its impairment among postmenopausal Ecuadorian women.
  
  
  METHODS
  Postmenopausal women that participated in a metabolic syndrome screening and educational program at the Institute of Biomedicine of the Universidad Católica of Guayaquil, Ecuador were interviewed using the Menopause-Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire (MENQOL). Mean domain scores as well as factors associated to higher scores within each of the domains of the questionnaire (vasomotor, psycho-social, physical and sexual) were determined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Three hundred twenty-five postmenopausal women (n=325) were surveyed. Mean age of participants was 55.9+/-8.1 years (median: 54 years). Women presented metabolic syndrome, hypertension, hyperglycemia, hypertriglyceridemia and abdominal obesity in 41.5%, 38.8%, 16.6%, 56.9% and 54.2% respectively. Mean scores obtained for each domain were: vasomotor: 3.5+/-2.5 (median 3); psycho-social: 3.7+/-1.5 (median 3.6); physical: 3.8+/-1.2 (median 3.8); sexual: 4.9+/-2.3 (median 5.3). More than 50% of women had scores above the median for each domain of the questionnaire. Logistic regression determined that vasomotor score decreased with age. Abdominal obesity increased the risk of having vasomotor, psycho-social and physical scores above the median. Hypertension and hyperglycemia increased the risk for higher scores within the psycho-social and sexual domain respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this postmenopausal Ecuadorian population, impairment of quality of life was found to be associated to age and related conditions such as abdominal obesity, hypertension and hyperglycemia.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedicine, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil, PO Box 09-01-4671, Guayaquil, Ecuador. peterchedraui@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chedraui
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hidalgo
authors.forename: Diana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chavez
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Morocho
authors.forename: Mariela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Alvarado
authors.forename: Angelica
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Huc
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D004484:Ecuador / Q000208:ethnology; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D006943:Hyperglycemia / Q000523:psychology; D006973:Hypertension / Q000523:psychology; D008403:Mass Screening; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000150:complications / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000523:psychology; D017698:Postmenopause / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*