Ortiz Ana Patricia, Harlow Siobán, Sowers Maryfran, Romaguera Josefina
Epidemiology Department, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, 611 Church Street, Room 360, Ann Arbor, MI 48104-3028, USA.
P R Health Sci J. 2003 Dec;22(4):337-42.
To characterize the distribution of age at menopause in a sample of Puerto Rican women and to evaluate the differences in demographic, health and lifestyle factors associated with menopausal state.
Age at natural menopause may be an important marker of a woman's long-term risk of chronic disease. Understanding which factors influence the timing of menopause remains limited and while ethnic differences in age at menopause have been reported, little data are available for Puerto Rican women.
In 2000, a self-administered questionnaire was completed by a sample of 300 women aged 30-59 attending health fairs in the cities of Carolina, Aguadilla and Yauco, Puerto Rico (PR). Data from this interview was used to determine age at menopause which was described with probit analysis. Women from different menopausal status groups were compared with respect to demographic, lifestyle and health characteristics by using contingency table analysis and chi-square statistics.
In a sample where 53% of women were menopausal, the median age of natural menopause was 51.4 years (95% confidence intervals 50.3-52.5). Compared to premenopausal women, naturally and surgically postmenopausal women had lower educational attainment, increased parity and were more likely to be obese (p < 0.05).
This analysis provides the first estimate of age at natural menopause among women living in PR and the age is similar to that reported in other populations. Determining whether this population tends to have an early or late menopause will facilitate a better understanding of the potential chronic disease profile of Puerto Rican women as they age.
描述波多黎各女性样本中绝经年龄的分布情况，并评估与绝经状态相关的人口统计学、健康和生活方式因素的差异。
自然绝经年龄可能是女性长期患慢性病风险的一个重要标志。了解哪些因素影响绝经时间的研究仍然有限，虽然已有关于绝经年龄种族差异的报道，但针对波多黎各女性的数据却很少。
2000年，300名年龄在30 - 59岁的女性在波多黎各卡罗利纳、阿瓜迪亚和尧科市的健康博览会上完成了一份自填式问卷。此次访谈的数据用于确定绝经年龄，并通过概率分析进行描述。通过列联表分析和卡方统计，比较了处于不同绝经状态组的女性在人口统计学、生活方式和健康特征方面的差异。
在一个53%的女性处于绝经状态的样本中，自然绝经的中位年龄为51.4岁（95%置信区间50.3 - 52.5）。与绝经前女性相比，自然绝经和手术绝经后的女性受教育程度较低、生育次数增加且更易肥胖（p < 0.05）。
该分析首次估算了居住在波多黎各的女性自然绝经年龄，该年龄与其他人群报道的年龄相似。确定该人群绝经倾向于早或晚，将有助于更好地了解波多黎各女性随着年龄增长可能出现的慢性病情况。
