An extended Menopause Rating Scale II: a retrospective data analysis

Abstract

Objective

This study aims to discuss a statistically reasonable inclusion of additional questions in the Menopause Rating Scale II (MRS II) for daily use in clinical practice.

Methods

Retrospective data analysis was performed (cantonal ethics committee No. 2016-01179). The MRS II was extended with the parameters ‘changes in weight’, ‘headaches’, ‘skin changes’, ‘changes in hair growth’, ‘hair loss’, and whether therapy was desired. Data from 419 women seeking medical advice in our menopause center were collected between April 2009 and April 2017. Cronbach’s alpha was used to measure internal consistency of the extended questionnaire.

Results

For the conventional MRS II (N = 340 of 419, 81.1%), the internal consistency measured with Cronbach’s alpha increased from 0.805 to 0.820 considering ‘changes in weight’ (N = 237, 56.6%), to 0.815 considering ‘headaches’ (N = 247, 58.9%), and to 0.815 considering ‘skin changes’ (N = 236, 56.3%) if these additional parameters were added separately. Cronbach’s alpha increased from 0.805 to 0.835 (N = 224, 53.5%) if these parameters were added at once. Desire for therapy varied between 42.1% for ‘changes in hair growth’ (N = 38, 9.1%) and 60.6% for ‘hair loss’ (N = 33, 7.9%).

Conclusion

We suggest including the items ‘changes in weight’, ‘headaches’, and ‘skin changes’ in the MRS II as our results show even higher internal consistency with these symptoms and as the wish for therapy was high.

摘要

目的：本研究旨在讨论更年期评定量表II（MRS II）中统计上合理包含的其他问题, 以供日常临床实践采用。

方法：进行回顾性数据分析（州伦理委员会, 编号：2016-01179）。MRS II扩展了“体重改变”、“头痛”、“皮肤改变”、“头发生长改变”、“脱发”以及是否需要治疗的参数。在2009年4月至2017年4月之间, 收集了来自419名在我们的更年期中心寻求医疗咨询的女性的数据。Cronbach的alpha值用于衡量扩展问卷的内部一致性。

结果：对于常规的MRS II（N = 340/419, 81.1％）, 如果单独添加这些附加参数, 考虑到“体重变化”（N = 237, 56.6％）, Cronbach的alpha测量的内部一致性从0.805增加到0.820, 考虑到“头痛”（N = 247, 58.9％）, 则增加到0.815, 考虑到“皮肤变化”（N = 236, 56.3％）, 则增加到0.815。如果同时添加这些参数, 则Cronbach的alpha值将从0.805增至0.835（N = 224, 53.5％）。治疗需求在42.1％“头发生长改变”（N = 38, 9.1％）和60.6％“脱发”（N = 33, 7.9％）之间。

结论：我们建议在MRS II中包括“体重变化”、“头痛”和“皮肤变化”项, 因为我们的结果显示这些症状的内部一致性更高, 并且对治疗的期望很高。

Keywords:

• Menopause Rating Scale
• extended Menopause Rating Scale II
• menopause
• climacteric syndrome
• menopausal hormone therapy

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to extend special acknowledgement to Andrea Isler for data entry.

Potential conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests in respect to the presented study.

Source of funding

The study was funded by the Principal Investigator’s (Petra Stute) personal third-party funds.

Data availability statement

Data not available as further publications from the data set are in preparation.