title: Menopausal symptoms: do life events predict severity of symptoms in peri- and post-menopause?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Hormonal changes during menopausal transition are linked to physical and psychological symptoms' emergence. This study aims to explore if life events predict menopausal symptoms.
  
  
  METHODS
  This cross-sectional research encompasses a community sample of 992 women who answered to socio-demographic, health, menopause-related and lifestyle questionnaires; menopausal symptoms and life events were assessed with validated instruments. Structural equation modeling was used to build a causal model.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Menopausal status predicted only three symptoms: skin/facial hair changes (β=.136; p=.020), sexual (β=.157; p=.004) and, marginally, vasomotor symptoms (β=.094; p=.054). Life events predicted depressive mood (β=-.391; p=.002), anxiety (β=-.271; p=.003), perceived cognitive impairment (β=-.295; p=.003), body shape changes (β=-.136; p=.031), aches/pain (β=-.212; p=.007), skin/facial hair changes (β=-.171; p=.021), numbness (β=-.169; p=.015), perceived loss of control (β=-.234; p=.008), mouth, nails and hair changes (β=-.290; p=.004), vasomotor (β=-.113; p=.044) and sexual symptoms (β=-.208; p=.009).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although women in peri- and post-menopausal manifested higher symptoms' severity than their pre-menopausal counterparts, only three of the menopausal symptoms assessed were predicted by menopausal status. Since the vast majority of menopausal symptoms' severity was significantly influenced by the way women perceived their recent life events, it is concluded that the symptomatology exacerbation, in peri- and post-menopausal women, might be due to life conditions and events, rather than hormonal changes (nonetheless, the inverse influence should be investigated in future studies). Therefore, these should be accounted for in menopause-related clinical and research settings.
authors.affiliation: Psychology and Health Research Unit, ISPA-Instituto Universitário, Portugal. filipa_pimenta@ispa.pt
authors.forename: Filipa
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pimenta
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Leal
authors.forename: João
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Maroco
authors.forename: Catarina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ramos
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003072:Cognition Disorders; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D006197:Hair; D006304:Health Status; D019584:Hot Flashes; D006801:Humans; D006987:Hypesthesia; D008016:Life Change Events; D008019:Life Style; D008593:Menopause / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009262:Nails; D010146:Pain; D010465:Perception; D047648:Perimenopause / Q000523:psychology; D017698:Postmenopause / Q000523:psychology; D020377:Self Efficacy; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012735:Sexual Dysfunction, Physiological; D020018:Sexual Dysfunctions, Psychological; D012867:Skin; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological