title: The relationships between psychological symptoms and cardiovascular symptoms experienced during the menopausal transition: racial/ethnic differences.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of the study was to examine the relationships between psychological and cardiovascular symptoms in a multiethnic group of midlife women while controlling for other influencing factors, and to determine the association of race/ethnicity to the relationships between psychological and cardiovascular symptoms.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a secondary analysis of the data among 1,054 midlife women from two Internet surveys. The instruments included the questions on background characteristics, health, and menopause status and the Midlife Women's Symptom Index. The data were analyzed using correlation analyses, chi-squared tests, analysis of variance, and multivariate linear and logistic regression analyses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The total numbers and total severity scores of psychological symptoms were significantly related to those of cardiovascular symptoms as a whole and in each racial/ethnic group (P < 0.01). In total participants, both the total numbers and total severity scores of psychological symptoms were significantly associated with increased risk for cardiovascular symptoms after adjusting for race/ethnicity (P < 0.01), and there were no interactions between race/ethnicity and psychological symptoms. The existence of diagnosed cardiovascular diseases was significantly associated with the total numbers of and total severity scores of psychological symptoms only in Asian women.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Further studies on the mechanisms through which psychological symptoms are related to cardiovascular symptoms are needed while controlling for race/ethnicity.
authors.affiliation: 1School of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 2School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.
authors.forename: Eun-Ok
authors.initials: EO
authors.lastname: Im
authors.forename: Jinyoung
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Eunice
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Chee
authors.forename: Wonshik
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chee
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D001213:Asian; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008593:Menopause / Q000208:ethnology / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D044465:White People; D016387:Women's Health / Q000208:ethnology