Predictors of quality of life in peri- and postmenopausal Polish women living in Lublin Voivodeship

Objectives The aim of this observational cross-sectional study was to establish the factors that determine the quality of life in a sample of peri- and postmenopausal women and to answer the question of whether the quality of life of these women is dependent on currently or previously received hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Methods The research was carried out by means of a survey method, postal questionnaire technique. Three standardized questionnaires: WHOQOL-BREF, Women's Health Questionnaire (WHQ) and SF-36 were used as research tools. An original questionnaire was also used. The study comprised a representative sample of the female population aged 45-65 years living in Lublin Province. The sample size was 2143 women. The domains of quality of life established by the WHOQOL-BREF, WHQ and SF-36 questionnaires were treated as dependent variables, whereas the sociodemographic variables, data concerning the women's gynecological history, their state of health and whether they received HRT or not were treated as independent variables. Results At multivariate analysis, self-assessment of the state of health as poor or fair, the presence of urinary incontinence, the presence of chronic diseases, self-assessment of living conditions as poor, self-assessment of financial situation as poor, eligibility for benefits (pensions) for the disabled, and lower education level represented the most important predictors of poor quality of life. HRT use had an independent impact on women's quality of life only in one quality-of-life domain-sleep problems in the WHQ. Current HRT users were characterized by a slightly lower risk of quality of life reduction when compared with past HRT users and women who never used HRT. Conclusions Strong predictors of the worse quality of life established in the research make it possible to single out a group of women who need special attention in the process of undertaking preventive or curative steps.