Laboratory of Brain Imaging Research, Nencki Institute, Warsaw, Poland.
Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
Qual Life Res. 2024 Jul;33(7):1925-1935. doi: 10.1007/s11136-024-03641-z. Epub 2024 May 3.
The menopausal transition brings with it many physical, cognitive, and affective changes in a woman's life, impacting quality of life. Whereas prior work has examined impact on general mental health and cognitive function, research on basic affective processing during menopause remains scarce.
Using a median-split procedure, this pre-registered study examined the impact of stronger (N = 46 women) vs. milder (N = 47 women) menopausal symptoms using a behavioural task of subjective emotion perception (embody) and a passive eye tracking viewing task of emotional faces in addition to self-report questionnaires. After 3 months, participants completed the questionnaires again to examine whether objective measures of emotion perception (eye tracking) might predict mental health at follow-up.
As anticipated, women with stronger vs. milder menopausal symptoms reported increased symptoms of anxiety, depression, stress, emotion regulation difficulties, and lower quality of life during both time points. While no evidence was found in the behavioural task, eye tracking data indicated blunted emotion perception in women with high menopausal symptoms, while women with low symptoms spent more time looking at happy faces relative to fearful or surprised faces. Although eye tracking or hormonal data did not predict mental health at follow-up, a higher estradiol/FSH ratio indicated a higher quality of life.
This study documented an impact of the menopausal transition and strength of menopausal symptoms in particular on objective emotion perception as well as mental health and quality of life in women suffering from stronger vs. milder menopausal symptoms. Clinical implications are discussed.
更年期过渡给女性生活带来许多身体、认知和情感变化，影响生活质量。尽管先前的研究已经考察了对一般心理健康和认知功能的影响，但对更年期基本情感处理的研究仍然很少。
本研究使用中位数分割程序，通过主观情感感知行为任务（体现）和情绪面孔的被动眼动跟踪观看任务，以及自我报告问卷，检查了更强（N=46 名女性）与更轻（N=47 名女性）更年期症状对女性的影响。3 个月后，参与者再次完成问卷，以考察情感感知的客观测量（眼动跟踪）是否可以预测随访时的心理健康。
正如预期的那样，与轻度更年期症状相比，症状较强的女性在两个时间点都报告了更多的焦虑、抑郁、压力、情绪调节困难和较低的生活质量症状。虽然在行为任务中没有发现证据，但眼动跟踪数据表明，高更年期症状的女性情绪感知能力减弱，而低症状的女性相对害怕或惊讶的面孔，会花更多时间看快乐的面孔。尽管眼动跟踪或激素数据并未预测随访时的心理健康，但较高的雌二醇/促卵泡激素比值表明生活质量更高。
这项研究记录了更年期过渡以及更年期症状的强度，特别是对患有更强或更轻更年期症状的女性的客观情感感知以及心理健康和生活质量的影响。讨论了临床意义。
