title: Menopausal syndrome limited to hot flushes and sweating a representative survey study.
abstract: The menopausal syndrome is described as a series of various physical and nonphysical symptoms attributed to perimenopausal changes in hormone levels. However, evidence is biased by focusing research on the target group of middle aged women only. To overcome this bias, we examined the occurrence of menopausal symptoms during the entire life span in both women and men.
  
  
  
  Therefore, we studied the occurrence of menopausal symptoms with the widely used Menopause Rating Scale (MRS) across the entire life span in both women and men. To this end, we performed a nationwide cross-sectional survey study in Germany in which we examined a representative sample of 2527 persons aged from 14 to 95 years. Additionally, sociodemographic factors and self-efficacy were surveyed.
  
  
  
  Although the overall MRS score was generally higher for women compared to men, there was no specific peak for the time of menopause. Instead the score increased linearly with age for both sexes. Furthermore, it was stronger associated with sociodemographic variables and self-efficacy than with the sex of the participants. Among all assessed symptoms, only hot flushes and sweating, but none of the others, emerged as specific for the menopausal episode.
  
  
  
  Our data indicate that among symptoms commonly classified as menopausal only hot flushes and sweating appear to be specific for the perimenopausal episode. Other symptoms may be caused by a multifactorial etiopathogenesis including physical, sociodemographic, cultural and psychological factors that, in turn, might benefit from multimodal treatment regimes.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic Medicine , University hospital C. G. Carus, Technische Universität Dresden , Dresden , Germany.
authors.forename: Kerstin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Weidner
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic Medicine , University hospital C. G. Carus, Technische Universität Dresden , Dresden , Germany.
authors.forename: Ilona
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Croy
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic Medicine , University hospital C. G. Carus, Technische Universität Dresden , Dresden , Germany.|b Department of Neurology , University hospital C. G. Carus, Technische Universität Dresden , Dresden , Germany.
authors.forename: Timo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Siepmann
authors.affiliation: c Department for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy , University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University , Mainz , Germany.|d Department of Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology , University of Leipzig , Leipzig , Germany.
authors.forename: Elmar
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Brähler
authors.affiliation: c Department for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy , University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University , Mainz , Germany.
authors.forename: Manfred
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Beutel
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic Medicine , University hospital C. G. Carus, Technische Universität Dresden , Dresden , Germany.
authors.forename: Antje
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bittner
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D019584:Hot Flashes / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008593:Menopause / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D020377:Self Efficacy; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013546:Sweating / Q000502:physiology*; D013577:Syndrome; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Climacteric; hot flushes; menopause; sociodemographic; women