Menopausal symptoms, physical activity level and quality of life of women living in the Mediterranean region

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 15; no. 3; p. e0230515
• Main Authors: El Hajj, Aya, Wardy, Nina, Haidar, Sahar, Bourgi, Dana, Haddad, Mounia El, Chammas, Daisy El, El Osta, Nada, Rabbaa Khabbaz, Lydia, Papazian, Tatiana
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 24-03-2020; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Alcohol use; Anthropometry; Biology and Life Sciences; Body mass; Body mass index; Body measurements; Body size; Domains; Drinking (Alcoholic beverages); Exercise; Health; Health risk assessment; Hormone replacement therapy; Marriage; Medicine and Health Sciences; Menopause; Obesity; Physical activity; Physical fitness; Post-menopause; Postmenopausal women; Public health; Quality of life; Questionnaires; Social Sciences; Socioeconomic factors; Studies; Surveys; Women; Lebanon; Beirut Lebanon
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0230515
• EISSN: 1932-6203

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between menopause related discomforts and the quality of life of Lebanese women correlated with the physical activity level, anthropometric, medical, sociodemographic and lifestyle variables, during mid-life.
This cross-sectional study was conducted among 1113 women, recruited from different Lebanese regions. The Menopause-Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire (MENQOL) was used to assess menopause related symptoms. Menopausal status was classified according to the World Health Organization's definition of menopause. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire was used to evaluate the physical activity level of participants. Anthropometric measurements were taken by the research team.
Participants were 49.53 ± 5.74 years old and had a mean body mass index of 26.69 ± 5.37 Kg/m2. The highest mean scores of MENQOL were found in the physical and psychosocial domains (p<0.001). Peri-menopausal women had the highest mean scores in the vasomotor, physical and psychosocial domains (p<0.001), while postmenopausal and menopausal women in the sexual domain (p<0.001). Almost half the participants (45.4%) had low physical activity level, which was significantly and inversely correlated with vasomotor, psychosocial, physical and sexual MENQOL subdomains (p<0.001). Menopausal status, educational level, crowding and body mass indexes, marital status, smoking and alcohol intake were among the factors that were significantly associated with the frequency and the severity of menopause related symptoms.
Physical activity may play a protective role in attenuating climacteric symptoms and hence improve the quality of life of women during mid-life.