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 cohort of middle-aged women in Taiwan, their age at menopause, and related factors and prevalence of menopausal symptoms, and to examine the relationships between symptoms and sociodemographic variables. Methods: An epidemiological study of neuropsychological change during the menopausal transition among Chinese women aged 40-54 years old on the islet of Kinmen. Results: Of a targeted population of 2256 individuals, 1497 (66%) participated in the study. The mean age at menarche was 15.6 years and that at menopause was 48 years. The hormone use rate at the time of study was 23% in surgical menopausal women, and 9% were past users. After excluding surgical menopausal and premenopausal women, 6% reported a current use of estrogen replacement therapy and 6% were past users. The most frequently reported discomforts for those women aged > 45 were troubled sleep, backaches, and joint pain. Four symptom clusters: musculoskeletal, non-specific somatic complaints, urogenital, and vasomotor, were identified. After adjustment for age, the urogenital and 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.