Author(s)

Karina Giane Mendes, Heloísa Theodoro, Alice D. Rodrigues, Fernanda Busnello, Dino Roberto S. de Lorenzi, Maria Teresa A. Olinto

Nutrition Department, Federal University of Health Sciences of Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Post-Graduate Program in Collective Health, University of Vale do Rio dos Sinos, S?o Leopoldo, Brazil.
Post-Graduate Program in Medical Sciences: Endocrinology, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
University of Caxias do Sul, Caxias do Sul, Brazil.

Background: This study aims to understand the relationship between menopausal status and the presence of Metabolic Syndrome in women from 40 to 65 years, as well as to describe the distribution of each component of Metabolic Syn- drome according to sample characteristics. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 551 women treated at a clinic in southern Brazil. MetS and its components were defined according to NCEP-ATP III and menopausal status as pre, peri, and post-menopause. Prevalences of menopausal status and of MetS and its components were calculated. Estimates of prevalence ratios crude and adjusted with confidence intervals of 95% were calculated by Poisson Regression with robust variance. Demographic, socioeconomic, behavioral, and reproductive characteristics were considered as potential confounding factors in multivariable models based on a conceptual framework of MetS determination. Results: The prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome in the sample was 56.1% (CI_95%: 51.9 to 60.2), being more common among older women (56 to 65 years), with low education, menarche < 11 years old, with three or more pregnancies and in the post-menopausal period. In multivariate analysis, there was an increase of prevalence ratios when comparing perimenopause and post-menopause with pre-menopause; however, the confidence intervals include the unit. Regarding the analysis of isolated components in the sample, the most prevalent altered components were: hypertension (84.8%; CI_95%: 81.7 to 87.8), waist circumference (66.4%; CI_95%: 62.5 to 70.4) and HDL cholesterol (51.7%; CI_95%: 47.5 to 55.9). There was a linear increase on mean blood glucose through menopausal status. Conclusions: Our study indicates variation on the distribution of MetS and each component according to menopausal status and other women characteristics. Future studies on MetS should also have foresight to use this type of approach to improve understanding and targeting of actions and programs focusing on women in this period of life.

Metabolic Syndrome; Climacteric; Menopause; Pre-Menopause; Perimenopause; Post-Menopause

K. Giane Mendes, H. Theodoro, A. D. Rodrigues, F. Busnello, D. Roberto S. de Lorenzi and M. Teresa A. Olinto, "Menopausal Status and Metabolic Syndrome in Women in Climacteric Period Treated at a Clinic in Southern Brazil," Open Journal of Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases, Vol. 3 No. 1, 2013, pp. 31-41. doi: 10.4236/ojemd.2013.31005.