Menopause status and climacteric symptoms in a birth cohort of mid-life New Zealand women

Abstract

Background

There is little current research on the transition to natural menopause among contemporary groups of mid-life women at age 40 years.

Objective

This study reports on female members of the Christchurch Health and Development Study cohort. This research aimed to: document the menopause status, reproductive outcomes and climacteric symptoms of the women at age 40 years; examine the associations between menopause status and concurrent measures of psychosocial and economic well-being; and document the associations between menopause status and potential predictors of menopause reflecting childhood, family and individual factors prior to age 40 years.

Methods

The Christchurch Health and Development Study is a longitudinal, representative, prospective cohort of 1265 babies (630 females) born in New Zealand in 1977. At age 40 years, 470 women (who had not experienced surgical menopause) were interviewed on their menopause status, climacteric symptoms and associated factors.

Results

The majority of women were premenopausal, around 20% were perimenopausal and 2% were postmenopausal. Statistically significant associations were found reflecting higher rates of diagnosed reproductive disorder, climacteric symptoms, low occupational status, non-heterosexual sexuality and exposure to childhood sexual abuse amongst both perimenopausal and postmenopausal women at age 40 years.

Conclusion

These data will inform directions for future data collection and analyses.

摘要

背景：目前几乎没有关于40岁中年女性向自然绝经过渡的研究。目的：这项研究报告了克赖斯特彻奇健康与发展研究队列中的女性成员。本研究旨在：记录40岁女性的绝经状况、生殖结果和更年期症状；检查绝经状态与同时测量的心理社会和经济福利之间的关系；并记录绝经状态和反映40岁前童年、家庭和个人因素的绝经潜在预测因素之间的联系。方法：克赖斯特彻奇健康与发展研究是一项纵向、有代表性的、前瞻性队列研究, 研究对象为1977年在新西兰出生的1265名婴儿（630名女性）。在40岁时, 对470名妇女（没有经历过手术绝经）就其绝经状态、更年期症状和相关因素进行了采集。结果：大多数女性处于绝经前, 约20%处于围绝经期, 2%处于绝经后。结果反映了围绝经期和绝经后40岁女性中诊断出生殖障碍、绝经症状、低职业地位、非异性恋性行为和童年期遭受性虐待的比率统计学上显著较高。结论：这些数据将为未来的数据收集和分析提供指导。

Keywords:

• Longitudinal birth cohort
• perimenopause
• menopause
• women
• fertility
• wāhine Māori

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the female Christchurch Health and Development Study cohort members who have given their time participating in this study. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.

Potential conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Mercia Barnes Trust application [Grant MBT ID: 20-2]; Health Research Council of New Zealand Programme Grant application [Grant16/600]; University of Otago Research Grant application [Grant UORG-2016].