Validation of the Brazilian 10-item Cervantes Scale for the assessment of menopausal symptoms

Objective: To validate the 10-item Cervantes Scale (CS-10] among Brazilian women. Methods: This is a cross-sectional observational study involving women in the community aged 40-55 years in the Southern region of Brazil. They completed a general health, habits and sociodemographic questionnaire, the CS-10 and the Women's Health Questionnaire (WHQ]. Women unable to understand the survey, not consenting to participate, or having incapacity imposing difficulties during the completion of the questionnaire were excluded. A Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA] was conducted with the AMOS 16.0 software. Chi-square of degrees of freedom (chi(2)/df], the Comparative Fit Index (CFI], the Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI] and the Root-Mean-Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA] were used as indices of goodness of fit. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used for internal consistency. Results: A total of 422 women were included (premenopausal n=35, perimenopausal n=172, postmenopausal n=215]. The CFA for the CS-10 showed a good fit (chi(2)/df=1.454, CFI=0.989; TLI=0.985; RMSEA=0.033; CI 90%=0.002-0.052; PCLOSE=0.921; Model p=0.049]. Good reliability was established in CS-10 and WHQ (Cronbach's alpha=0.724]. Postmenopausal women had higher total CS-10 scores (p <= 0.0001], reflecting worse quality of life (QoL] related to menopause symptoms and confirming the greater symptomatology evaluated by high total scores for WHQ found in this population when compared to those in the premenopausal period (p=0.041]. Conclusion: The CS-10 is a consistent tool for health-related QoL in Brazilian mid-aged women.