Abstract
Previously, quality of life (Qol) has been defined as an individual’s evaluation of a satisfactory life as a whole (i.e. physically, mentally, psychologically, and socially). Only a few studies have examined the racial differences between QoL and risk factors associated with health, demographics, and lifestyle in midlife women. Thus, the purpose of our study was to determine racial differences in QoL in menopausal women due to lifestyle, demographic, and health related risk factors. A stratified ordinal logistic regression model was applied to self-reported questionnaire data from the Midlife Women’s Health Study (MWHS) to determine risk factors associated with QoL differences between White and Black women during the menopausal transition. In multivariable models, our results showed Black women who had 3 or 4 comorbidities were about 4 times as likely to have higher QoL compared to women who had 0 to 2 comorbidities (95% CI: 1.65,10.78). However, the number of comorbidities was not significantly associated with QoL in White women in univariate or multiple regression. Further, body mass index and income were not significant factors in QoL in Black women but were in White women. Overall, our results illustrate that differences in health, demographic, and lifestyle factors are associated with QoL during menopause. Also, we suggest that future studies evaluate stratified models between racial groups to determine race-specific risk factors related to quality of life.
Highlights
Quality of life (Qol) has been defined as an individual’s evaluation of a satisfactory life as a whole [1, 2]
Black women who were former smokers or who had never smoked were almost 4 times as likely to have higher quality of life (QoL) compared to Black women who currently smoked
Black women who were defined as depressed (CES-D score > 16) were 4.76 times less likely to have high QoL compared to women who were not defined as depressed
Summary
Quality of life (Qol) has been defined as an individual’s evaluation of a satisfactory life as a whole (i.e. physically, mentally, psychologically, and socially) [1, 2]. The midlife period, in which most women begin to experience the menopausal transition, has been shown to have negative impacts on QoL [3,4,5]. In Black women, body mass index (BMI) has been shown to have a negative linear relationship with health-related QoL, compared to the inverse-U shape for White women [11]. Black women have consistently higher BMI levels through all levels of education, whereas White women appear to have decreased BMI with increasing education levels This can be of concern because normal range BMI has been associated with a lower probability of vasomotor symptoms in menopausal women as well as higher scores on health-related QoL [12]
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