Correlation of Menopausal Symptoms with Serum Estradiol: A Study in Urban Indian Postmenopausal Women

Background Menopause is a hypoestrogenic state. Menopausal symptoms like hot flushes, depression, joint pains and urinary symptoms all correlate with falling estrogen levels. Material and Methods Four hundred postmenopausal women who underwent natural menopause were included in the study conducted from Nov 2018 to March 2020. Surgical menopause, premature menopause and those on hormone replacement were excluded. Serum estradiol was measured and assessment of severity of menopausal symptoms was done using MRS questionnaire. MRS score of 0-4, 5-8, 9-15 and more than 16 were taken as none/minimal, mild, moderate and severe postmenopausal symptoms, respectively. Correlation between serum estradiol and symptoms was analyzed statistically. Results Mean age of menopause in our study population was found to be 47.2 +/- 3.96 years. Somatic symptoms were found maximum out of all 3 subscales in study population. Psychological subscale which included depression and mood changes was found to have the strongest correlation with serum estradiol level compared to other two subscales (somatic and genito-urinary). Discussion Psychological symptoms, somatic symptoms and genitor urinary symptoms at menopause show correlation with falling estrogen levels. We found maximum correlation of psychological symptoms with low serum estradiol level. Conclusion There is an inverse correlation of serum estradiol value with menopausal symptoms, with psychological symptoms (depression, anxiety, mood changes) showing highest correlation with low estrogen levels.