The Relationship between Health Status and Social Activity of Perimenopausal and Postmenopausal Women (Health Status and Social Relationships in Menopause)

Beata Naworska, Anna Brzęk and Monika Bąk-Sosnowska
Additional contact information
Beata Naworska: Department of Perinatology and Oncological Gynecology, Faculty of Health Sciences in Katowice, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, Medyków 12 Str., 40-752 Katowice, Poland
Anna Brzęk: Department of Physiotherapy, Chair of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Health Sciences in Katowice, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, Medyków 12 Str., 40-752 Katowice, Poland
Monika Bąk-Sosnowska: Department of Psychology, Chair of Social Sciences and Humanities, Faculty of Health Sciences in Katowice, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, Medyków 12 Str., 40-752 Katowice, Poland

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 22, 1-12

Abstract: The quantity and quality of interpersonal relations (including participation in University of the Third Age—U3A) play an important role for women during menopausal changes. Women who have a social network are found to be more positive about menopause, and are less likely to be depressed. This case-control study aimed to analyze the relationship between participating in formal social groups and health status related to physical activity and climacteric and depressive symptoms. The study was conducted among 621 peri- and postmenopausal women aged 50–64 years. The women were classified into two groups: U3A and controls. The participants were selected using a multistage sampling method. The IPAQ (The International Physical Activity Questionnaire), Kupperman Index (KI), and Beck Depression Inventory were used for data collection. Significant differences between the groups were confirmed in the area of professional work ( p < 0.001), free time ( p < 0.001), and sitting ( p < 0.05). The average KI score in the U3A group was higher (t-Student = 2.12, p < 0.05). Depressive symptoms were found in 43.49% of U3A women vs. 51.15% in controls ( p < 0.01). We conclude that participation in formal social groups is associated with higher level of physical activity and reduced severity of both climacteric and depressive symptoms.

Keywords: perimenopause; postmenopause; climacteric syndrome; depression; physical activity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/22/8388/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/22/8388/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:22:p:8388-:d:444168

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().