- Title
- Accurate categorisation of menopausal status for research studies: a step-by-step guide and detailed algorithm considering age, self-reported menopause and factors potentially masking the occurrence of menopause.
- Creator
- Yap, Sarsha; Vassallo, Amy; Goldsbury, David E.; Salagame, Usha; Velentzis, Louiza; Banks, Emily; O'Connell, Dianne L.; Canfell, Karen; Steinberg, Julia
- Relation
- BMC Research Notes Vol. 15, Issue 1, no. 88
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13104-022-05970-z
- Publisher
- BioMed Central Ltd.
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2022
- Description
- Objective: Menopausal status impacts risk for many health outcomes. However, factors including hysterectomy without oophorectomy and Menopausal Hormone Therapy (MHT) can mask menopause, affecting reliability of self-reported menopausal status in surveys. We describe a step-by-step algorithm for classifying menopausal status using: directly self-reported menopausal status; MHT use; hysterectomy; oophorectomy; intervention timing; and attained age. We illustrate this approach using the Australian 45 and Up Study cohort (142,973 women aged ≥ 45 years). Results: We derived a detailed seven-category menopausal status, able to be further consolidated into four categories (“pre-menopause”/“peri-menopause”/“post-menopause”/“unknown”) accounting for participants’ ages. 48.3% of women had potentially menopause-masking interventions. Overall, 93,107 (65.1%), 9076 (6.4%), 17,930 (12.5%) and 22,860 (16.0%) women had a directly self-reported “post-menopause”, “peri-menopause”, “pre-menopause” and “not sure”/missing status, respectively. 61,464 women with directly self-reported “post-menopause” status were assigned a “natural menopause” detailed derived status (menopause without MHT use/hysterectomy/oophorectomy). By accounting for participants’ ages, 105,817 (74.0%) women were assigned a “post-menopause” consolidated derived status, including 15,009 of 22,860 women with “not sure”/missing directly self-reported status. Conversely, 3178 of women with directly self-reported “post-menopause” status were assigned “unknown” consolidated derived status. This algorithm is likely to improve the accuracy and reliability of studies examining outcomes impacted by menopausal status.
- Subject
- menopause; hysterectomy; oophorectomy; menopausal hormone therapy; 45 and up study; menopausal status
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1481367
- Identifier
- uon:50708
- Identifier
- ISSN:1756-0500
- Rights
- x
- Language
- eng
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