Abstract

ROMERO-PEREZ, Ivette Marina; MONTERROSA-CASTRO, Álvaro  and  PATERNINA-CAICEDO, Ángel. Menopause and ethnicity/race: are there differences in clinical presentation?. Rev Colomb Obstet Ginecol [online]. 2010, vol.61, n.4, pp.319-328. ISSN 0034-7434.

Introduction: most studies about the symptomatology of menopause have been done on Caucasian females living in western culture, leading to worry about whether their findings are really applicable to females from other ethnic/ racial groups. There is growing interest in studying the role of ethnic groups/race in the symptoms of menopause. Objective: reviewing the literature identifying studies comparing menopausal symptoms in different ethnic groups/races. Materials and methods: PubMed, Cochrane and SciELO databases were searched using the key words "menopause", "ethnicity", "race". Studies were included which compared the presentation of climacteric symptoms in different ethnic groups; studies carried out on a single ethnic population were not included due to the subsequent difficulty in comparing results. Results: 55 studies were identified, of which 19 fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The prevalence of menopausal symptoms differed between ethnic groups and differences were observed concerning the perception and experience of menopause amongst cultures. Conclusion: the results of these studies did not support a single menopausal syndrome. Understanding the differences between ethnic groups could improve the quality of healthcare attention being provided for females and promote lifestyles contributing towards reducing the symptoms' incidence and severity, thereby improving females' quality of life.

Keywords : menopause; ethnic group; race; climacteric symptoms.

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