Longitudinal study of a health education program for Japanese women in menopause

Abstract

In this longitudinal intervention study, a 6 week health education program consisting of lectures and exercises was implemented for 39 Japanese menopausal women. The effects of the program were assessed by measuring their exercise participation, climacteric symptoms, and quality of life immediately before, 6 weeks after, and 1 year after the program. The Simplified Menopausal Index was used to assess the climacteric symptoms and the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health (SF-36) Survey was used to assess the quality of life. Significant improvements were observed in the subscale score for general health perception and the summary score for the physical component summary in the SF-36 Survey. Favorable results also were found for women without a previous exercise habit before the program but who participated in regular exercise 1 year after the program. No improvements were observed in the climacteric symptoms. We concluded that our program was effective for menopausal women in spite of the intervention period being relatively short.

Change in oral health status associated with menopause in Japanese dental hygienists

“…The scale of SRQ‐D ranged from 0 to 54 indicating that higher score means higher depressive tendency . The level of health‐related QoL was measured by using the Short‐Form 36‐Item Health Survey (SF‐36®, Japanese version) . This survey is composed of 35 items covering eight physical and mental health dimensions and one additional item, which can comprehensively assess the health status and change in health over time.…”

“…22,23 The level of health-related QoL was measured by using the Short-Form 36-Item Health Survey (SF-36®, Japanese version). [24][25][26] This survey is composed of 35 items covering eight physical and mental health dimensions and one additional item, which can comprehensively assess the health status and change in health over time. The score of eight dimensions is summed and converted to a scale between 0 (worst health) and 100 (best health), which further underwent Z-transformation using NBS method.…”

Impact of surgical menopause on lipid and bone metabolism

“…Hormone therapy (HT) was prescribed for climacteric disorders, using the simplified menopausal index (SMI) [30][31][32] . The SMI was developed in Japan as a self-reported screening scale for menopausal symptoms and consists of ten items concerning physical symptoms including hot flushes, sweating and palpitation.…”

An observational study on the effects of Pilates on quality of life in women during menopause

“…For this reason, the implementation of physical activity in climacteric women could provide benefits by preventing symptoms associated with the menopause [5,10], as well as having health benefits for the wider population. The functional capacity of any person is an important part of his/her life and has an immediate impact on HRQL.…”

“…The quality of life (QOL) of climacteric women may be adversely affected by different symptoms related to this period of life [8][9][10].…”