Symptom Clusters and Key Symptoms Among Midlife Perimenopausal and Postmenopausal Women With and Without Metabolic Syndrome.
Se Hee Min, Qing Yang, Sharron L Docherty and 2 others
PMID 35759720WHAT IT FOUND
Midlife women with metabolic syndrome reported distinct symptom clusters compared to those without.
Key symptoms like frequent mood change and cold sweat varied by group, suggesting targeted assessment is needed for women with metabolic syndrome.
Key findings
01Women with metabolic syndrome had three symptom clusters: psychological/somatic/genital, sleep/urinary, and vasomotor, with frequent mood change, sleep disturbance, and cold sweat identified as key symptoms in the occurrence dimension.
02Women without metabolic syndrome had three symptom clusters in the occurrence dimension, with anxiety, sleep disturbance, and night sweat identified as key symptoms.
03The number and type of symptom clusters differed between women with and without metabolic syndrome across both symptom occurrence and severity dimensions.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study is exploratory and cross-sectional, so it cannot determine causality or how symptom clusters change over time. Findings may not generalize to women in pre-menopause or other age groups. Only two symptom dimensions (occurrence and severity) were analyzed, excluding frequency. The use of network analysis is a variable-centered approach, which differs from person-centered methods used in other studies, potentially affecting cluster identification.
Declared interests
The authors have no conflicts of interest to report.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret these symptom clusters as stable or causal patterns over time. The study is cross-sectional and exploratory, so the identified clusters may change as women age or transition through menopausal stages.