Quality of life in low-income menopausal women attending primary care clinics

Objective: To examine the quality of life and health status of a population of menopausal age primary care attendees that demographically has not been well represented in previous studies, and to describe the relationships be tween population characteristics and outcomes. Design:, Cross-sectional. Setting: Community primary care clinics. Patient(s): Women 45-60 years of age within 5 years of their last period. Intervention(s): None. Main Outcome Measure(s): Participants provided demographic information and completed a series of questionnaires, including the Menopause Quality of Li fe instrument (MENQOL) and the Short Form-36 health survey (SF-36); Result(s): Women who were employed, had higher levels of education, or high er levels of income reported better overall health and fewer menopausal sym ptoms. The study population scored significantly lower than the national no rms on a summary survey of mental and physical health. There were no signif icant differences between ethnic,groups with respect to either menopausal q uality of life or health status. Conclusion(s): In a generally low income, poorly educated menopausal popula tion, ethnicity did not significantly affect quality of life. Socioeconomic characteristics (less education and lower income) were associated with inc reased menopausal symptoms. (C) 2001 by American Society for Reproductive M edicine.