Association between lifestyle and severity of menopausal symptoms in postmenopausal women

Objective: Menopause is a physiological occurrence characterized by a series of bothersome symptoms. Given that lifestyle affects people’s health in general and many menopausal symptoms are influenced by changes in lifestyle, this study aimed to determine the relationship between lifestyle and severity of menopausal symptoms in women referred to health centers in Yazd city. Method: This cross-sectional study was performed using stratified random sampling where 343 postmenopausal women who had experienced natural menopause for 1-5 years, and did not have any chronic or debilitating disease were selected. The study was conducted in 2017 in Yazd city, Iran. The data collection tools were Walker’s Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile II (HPLP2) and Menopause Rating Scale (MRS) questionnaires. A multiple hierarchical linear regression was used to investigate the association between lifestyle and severity of menopausal symptoms. Results: The total mean ± (SD) score of menopausal symptoms severity and women’s lifestyle were 10.21 ± 6.55 and 126.44 ± 79.27, respectively. The results of multiple hierarchical linear regression showed a significantly negative association between lifestyle score and the mean score of menopausal symptoms severity in all three models (P-value <0.001). Conclusion: Our study concluded that healthier lifestyle reduces the severity of menopausal symptoms. These findings warrant that policy makers in the design of postmenopausal care plans and programs ought to pay special attention to the role of healthy lifestyles, including physical activity and healthy diet in enhancing menopausal symptoms. By preventing aggravation of menopausal symptoms; it is possible to economize on referrals to physicians and medicinal and therapeutic costs. Longitudinal and intervention studies with larger sample size may be required to confirm these findings.