Metabolic Syndrome and Its Association with Menopausal Symptoms among Postmenopausal Women: A Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

Background: With increase in postmenopausal population, screening for MetS and its relationship with menopausal symptoms needs evaluation.

Objective: To identify the frequency of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and assess its relationship with menopausal symptoms in postmenopausal women.

Methods: This was a cross sectional study performed at a tertiary care centre in Uttarakhand India over a period of 18 months. All postmenopausal women >40 years with natural menopause included in the study sample. We used the Consensus Definition IDF and AHA/NHLBI (2009) criteria to classify subjects as having metabolic syndrome. Menopausal symptoms were assessed using Menopause Rating Scale (MRS) questionnaire.

Results: The frequency of metabolic syndrome in our study was 34.38% (55 out of 160 patients). We observed sleeping problems (36.88%) followed by physical & mental exhaustion (33.75%) and hot flushes (33.13%) to be the commonest menopausal symptoms. Significant association was seen for MRS along with its subscales in women with metabolic syndrome (P value <.05). Significant positive correlation was observed between total Menopause rating scale scores as well as all three subscales for triglycerides in patients with metabolic syndrome.

Conclusion: Hyper triglyceridemia was associated with severe menopausal symptoms among postmenopausal women with MetS in our study.

Keywords: Menopausal symptoms; menopause; metabolic syndrome.