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. 2022 Nov;26(11):3679-3687.
doi: 10.1007/s10461-022-03696-4. Epub 2022 May 23.

The Prevalence and Patterns of Menopausal Symptoms in Women Living with HIV

H Okhai  1 , C Sabin  2 , K Haag  2 , L Sherr  2 , R Dhairyawan  3 , J Shephard  4 , G Richard  2 , F Burns  2   5 , F Post  6 , R Jones  7 , Y Gilleece  8   9 , S Tariq  2
Affiliations

The Prevalence and Patterns of Menopausal Symptoms in Women Living with HIV

H Okhai et al. AIDS Behav. 2022 Nov.

Abstract

Increasing numbers of women with HIV are experiencing menopause. We use data from a large, representative sample of women with HIV to describe the prevalence and clustering of menopausal symptoms amongst pre-, peri- and post-menopausal women using hierarchical agglomerative cluster analysis. Of the 709 women included, 21.6%, 44.9% and 33.6% were pre-, peri- and post-menopausal, respectively. Joint pain (66.4%) was the most commonly reported symptom, followed by hot flashes (63.0%), exhaustion (61.6%) and sleep problems (61.4%). All symptoms were reported more commonly by peri- and post-menopausal women compared to pre-menopausal women. Psychological symptoms and sleep problems clustered together at all menopausal stages. Somatic and urogenital symptom clusters emerged more distinctly at peri- and post-menopause. We recommend regular and proactive assessment of menopausal symptoms in midlife women with HIV, with an awareness of how particular patterns of symptoms may evolve over the menopausal transition.

Keywords: Ageing; HIV; Menopause; Symptoms.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Severity of menopausal symptoms reported amongst women with a completed PRIME questionnaire and MRS rating scale score, stratified by menopausal status (n = 700)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Dendrogram representing the clustering of menopausal symptoms reported by women in PRIME at each menopausal status *A shorter horizontal distance between clusters suggests a closer relationship between the symptoms
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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