Severity and factors of menopausal symptoms in middle-aged women in Gansu Province of China: a cross-sectional study

Objective To investigate the severity and risk factors of menopausal symptoms in the middle-aged women in Gansu Province of China. Methods In this cross-sectional study, a total of 7319 women (aged 40-55 years) attended the health survey in Gansu Province in China were enrolled. Information on demographics, menopausal status, reproductive history, and history of chronic diseases was collected via a structured questionnaire. Severity of menopausal symptom was evaluated by the Modified Kupperman Menopausal Index. Ordinal logistic regression model was applied to explore its risk factors. Results A total of 7319 participants were included in present study, among them, 3606 (49.27%) had moderate or severe menopausal symptom. Compared with premenopausal women, perimenopausal and postmenopausal women have a higher mKMI score. We observed that older age, higher BMI, non-married status, longer duration of menstruation (>= 7 days), number of pregnancy (> 3 times), longer duration of breastfeeding (> 12 months), peri- or post-menopausal status, and menopause hormone therapy was positively associated with menopausal symptom score, while higher level of family income, educational and physical activity, and history of gynecological, breast or chronic disease were negatively associated with the score. Conclusions Numerous factors were associated with the severity of menopausal symptom among the Chinese women. Because it was gradually increased with aging, more attention is warranted to manage the menopausal symptom.