Endocrine Abstracts

Background and Objectives: With menopausal transition, there is decline in estrogen concentration with potential vasomotor, physical, psychosocial, and sexual health consequences. The loss of muscle mass, strength, and function, known as sarcopenia is common in postmenopausal women. The primary objective of this study is to assess the menopausal symptoms in postmenopausal women and its association with sarcopenia.

Methods: This study was conducted from January to December 2022 in Endocrinology OPD, Ramaiah Hospital, Bengaluru. A total of 106 postmenopausal women with the onset of menopause at >45 years of age were included in the study. Menopausal symptoms, and risk of sarcopenia were assessed with Menopause Rating Scale (MRS) and SARC-F questionnaires respectively. Sarcopenia was defined and assessed according to the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia guidelines 2019. Data analysis is done with the statistical software SPSS 22.0.

Results: The mean age of the participants was 59.34±7.21 years and the mean age at menopause was 49.50±2.67 years. Majority (80.2%) of the women had high MRS score (moderate-58.5%; severe-21.7%). Among the MRS domains, majority of women had mild somatic symptoms (37.7%), moderate psychologic symptoms (44.3%) and severe urogenital symptoms (60.4%). Urogenital symptoms were significantly high(P=0.002) in older women. SARC-F score was low in 85.8% and high in 14.2% of women. In our study, 45.3% of women had sarcopenia, 31.1% had possible sarcopenia and 23.6% had no sarcopenia. Women with sarcopenia were significantly older in age(P=0.002), shorter (P=0.005) and their mean weight, BMI were significantly low(P<0.001). Among women with sarcopenia, majority had mild somatic (41.7%), moderate psychologic (41.7%) and severe urogenital (66.7%) symptoms respectively. Somatic symptoms were significantly severe in women with sarcopenia(P=0.044). Women with low appendicular skeletal muscle mass index were significantly older and had significantly low hand grip strength and physical performance.

Conclusions: Most of the women (80.2%) had moderate to severe MRS score suggestive of a poor quality of life. Majority of the women (76.4%) had sarcopenia or possible sarcopenia. Most of the women (81.3%) felt they were strong (according to SARC-F score) despite having sarcopenia. There was significant association between somatic symptoms and sarcopenia. There was no significant difference in MRS score or SARC-F score with age. It is essential to assess for sarcopenia in all women ideally during perimenopause and thereby advise for improvement of muscle mass and muscle strength. The limitations of this study are its cross-sectional nature and relatively small sample size.