The Kinmen women-health investigation (KIWI): a menopausal study of a population aged 40-54

Objectives: This paper aims to report the methodology of a study of a cohor t of middle-aged women in Taiwan, their age at menopause, and related facto rs and prevalence of menopausal symptoms, and to examine the relationships between symptoms and sociodemographic variables. Methods: An epidemiologica l study of neuropsychological change during the menopausal transition among Chinese women aged 40-54 years old on the islet of Kinmen. Results: Of a t argeted population of 2256 individuals, 1497 (66%) participated in the stud y. The mean age at menarche was 15.6 years and that at menopause was 48 yea rs. The hormone use rate at the time of study was 23% in surgical menopausa l women, and 9% were past users. After excluding surgical menopausal and pr emenopausal women, 6% reported a current use of estrogen replacement therap y and 6% were past users. The most frequently reported discomforts for thos e women aged > 45 were troubled sleep, backaches, and joint pain. Four symp tom clusters: musculoskeletal, non-specific somatic complaints, urogenital, and vasomotor, were identified. After adjustment for age, the urogenital a nd vasomotor symptoms were significantly associated with menopausal status. Conclusions: The age at menopause did not differ much from Western studies , but the menopausal symptoms, especially the vasomotor symptoms. were much lower in our study population. Nevertheless, vasomotor symptoms were still significantly associated with menopausal status. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.