Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Objective

This study explores the effect of employment status, occupation and education on menopausal symptoms experienced by women in an urban community in China.

Study design

Cross-sectional survey.

Main outcome measures

Menopausal symptoms, medication/supplement use to relieve menopausal symptoms, sociodemographic variables.

Results

Risks for more burdensome menopausal symptoms include less education, non-white collar occupation and unemployment/retirement status. Being employed in a white collar occupation and having higher formal education were protective for hot flashes, dry skin/eyes, heart palpitations and insomnia and were associated with increased usage of medication to alleviate menopausal symptoms.

Conclusions

As Chinese women age and continue working longer, they will spend increasing amounts of time postmenopausal and in the workplace. The development of worksite-based health programmes would be advantageous to female workers of menopausal age in China.

Keywords

Aging China menopause socioeconomic women

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Gold

Sternfeld

Kelsey

. Relation of demographic and lifestyle factors to symptoms in a multi-racial/ethnic population of women 40–55 years of age. Am J Epidemiol 2000; 152: 463–473.

Dennerstein

Dudley

Hopper

. A prospective population-based study of menopausal symptoms: obstetrics & gynecology. Obstet Gynecol 2000; 96: 351–358.

Fleming

Levis

LeBlanc

. Earlier age at menopause, work and tobacco smoke exposure. Menopause 2008; 15: 1103–1108.

Lee

M-S

Kim

J-H

Park

. Factors influencing the severity of menopause symptoms in Korean post-menopausal women. J Korean Med Sci 2010; 25: 758–765.

Ogurlu

Kucuk

Aksu

. Influence of employment status on menopausal symptoms. Int J Gynecol Obstet 2011; 112: 204–207.

Hibbard

Pope

. Effect of domestic and occupational roles on morbidity and mortality. Soc Sci Med 1991; 32: 805–811.

Cassou

Mandereau

Aegerter

. Work-related factors associated with age at natural menopause in a generation of French Gainfully Employed Women. Am J Epidemiol 2007; 166: 429–438.

Haines

Rong

Chung

. The perception of the menopause and the climacteric among women in Hong Kong and Southern China. Prev Med 1995; 24: 245–248.

Zuo

Bian

. Gendered resources, division of housework, and perceived fairness—A case in urban China. J Marriage Fam 2001; 63: 1122–1133.

10.

Chrisler

. Teaching taboo topics: menstruation, menopause, and the psychology of women. Psychol Women Q 2013; 37: 128–132.

11.

Duffy

Iversen

Hannaford

. The menopause “It's somewhere between a taboo and a joke.” A focus group study. Climacteric 2011; 14: 497–450.

12.

Jiang

Wang

. BMI versus metabolic syndrome in relation to cardiovascular risk in elderly Chinese individuals. Diabetes Care 2007; 30: 2128–2134.

13.

Freeman

Sherif

. Prevalence of hot flushes and night sweats around the world: a systematic review. Climacteric 2009; 10: 197–214.

14.

Yang

Haines

Pan

. Menopausal symptoms in mid-life women in Southern China. Climacteric 2009; 11: 329–336.

15.

Kakkar

Kaur

Chopra

. Assessment of the variation in menopausal symptoms with age, education and working/non-working status in north-Indian sub population using menopause rating scale (MRS). Maturitas 2007; 57: 306–314.

16.

Kleinman A and Kleinman J. Moral transformations of health and suffering in Chinese society. In: Brandt AM and Rozin P (eds) Morality and health. New York: Routledge, 1997, pp.101–118.

17.

Malacara

de Cetina

Bassol

. Symptoms at pre- and postmenopause in rural and urban women from three States of Mexico. Maturitas 2002; 43: 11–19.

18.

Topo

Koster

Holte

. Trends in the use of climacteric and postclimacteric hormones in Nordic countries. Maturitas 1995; 22: 89–95.

19.

Ringa

Ledesert

Gueguen

. Determinants of hormonal replacement therapy in recently postmenopausal women. Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol 1992; 45: 193–200.

20.

Zeng

. Effects of demographic and retirement-age policies on future pension deficits, with an application to China. Popul Dev Rev 2011; 37: 553–569.

21.

Fuh

Wang

. The Kinmen women-health investigation (KIWI): a menopausal study of a population aged 40–54. Maturitas 2001; 39: 117–124.

22.

Chim

Tan

Ang

. Prevalence of menopausal symptoms in a community in Singapore. Maturitas 2002; 41: 275–282.

23.

Chan

Yip

. Menopausal symptoms and symptom clustering in Chinese women. Maturitas 1999; 33: 219–227.

24.

Landgren

B-M

Collins

Csemiczky

. Menopause Transition: annual changes in serum hormonal patterns over the menstrual cycle in women during a nine-year period prior to menopause. J Clin Endocrinol Metabol 2004; 89: 2763–2769.

Socioeconomic differences in the menopausal experience of Chinese women