RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: To systematically review published articles for the prevalence of menopausal symptoms in Asian women. METHODS: A comprehensive and systematic literature search was performed using MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, SCOPUS and Google scholar in June 2013 to retrieve all English-language studies that included information on the prevalence of menopausal symptoms in women living in Asian countries. Risk of bias of included studies was assessed using a risk-of-bias tool explicitly designed for the systematic review of prevalence studies. RESULTS: Twenty-three independent studies met our inclusion criteria. Physical symptoms were the most prevalent symptoms compared to psychological, vasomotor and sexual symptoms. There was a wide variation in the prevalence of all symptoms across the menopausal stages due to the differences in modes of recruitment, study design, sampling procedures, the time frame over which symptoms were assessed and use of different diagnostic or screening tools. A high level of bias was observed for both external and internal validity for most studies. CONCLUSION: Although there is a wide variation in the reported prevalence of menopausal symptoms, physical symptoms predominate, followed by psychological symptoms, vasomotor symptoms and sexual symptoms. Further studies of representative samples are necessary to understand whether the variations in prevalence reporting are a function of methodological issues or due to ethnic, cultural or other socioeconomic differences.
Assuntos
Povo Asiático , Menopausa , Adulto , Idoso , Ásia/epidemiologia , Transtornos Cognitivos/epidemiologia , Cultura , Etnicidade , Feminino , Fogachos/epidemiologia , Humanos , MEDLINE , Menopausa/fisiologia , Menopausa/psicologia , Transtornos Mentais/epidemiologia , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Dor/epidemiologia , Disfunções Sexuais Fisiológicas/epidemiologia , Transtornos do Sono-Vigília/epidemiologia , Fatores Socioeconômicos , SudoreseRESUMO
AIM: To systematically review the published data for the prevalence and severity of menopausal symptoms in Australian women. METHOD: A comprehensive and systematic literature search was done using six databases to extract all English-language, peer-reviewed studies that contained information on the prevalence of menopausal symptoms among women living in Australia. Risk of bias of included studies was assessed using a risk-of-bias tool specifically designed for the systematic review of prevalence studies. RESULTS: Eight independent studies met our inclusion criteria. There was no consistent pattern of vasomotor, psychological, physical or sexual symptom prevalence for the studies that reported symptoms across the menopausal stages. The ranges of the prevalences for the various outcomes were wide. A high level of bias was observed related to both external and internal validities for the included studies. CONCLUSION: The available data for the prevalence of menopausal symptoms in Australian women are not sufficient to allow conclusive findings. A large, appropriately sampled study using a validated questionnaire is needed to establish the prevalence and severity of menopausal symptoms in Australian women.
