Patsama Vichinsartvichai
Navamindradhiraj University, Bangkok, Thailand
Title: The influence of obesity and body fat distribution on the quality of life in peri- and postmenopausal women living in urban area of Thailand
Biography
Biography: Patsama Vichinsartvichai
Abstract
During the menopausal transition, changes in the hormonal milieu are associated with changes in body fat composition leading to abdominal obesity and predisposing metabolic syndrome. These transformations make a significant contribution to the shift of body fat from the gynoid to the android pattern, and hence the type of body pattern might affect the quality of life. We investigated the influence of patterns of body fat distribution and body mass index on menopause-specific quality of life (MENQOL) in peri- and postmenopausal women living in Bangkok. A total 214 peri- and postmenopausal women, mean age 55 years, with intact uterus and no history of hormonal treatment were recruited. Anthropometric measurements were conducted as standard techniques. The Thai version of MENQOL questionnaire was used to evaluate menopause-specific quality of life. According to the body fat distribution patterns, 53.3% were women of the android type and 46.7% were of the gynoid type. The android body pattern was associated with worsening of vasomotor and psychosocial domains (p<0.05). However, overweight and obese women had slightly better scores in the sexual domain of the MENQOL. Peri- and postmenopausal women with android body pattern have lower quality of life in the vasomotor and psychosocial domains while women with normal BMI have the slightly lower quality of life in the sexual domain. The maintenance of premenopausal body proportion might mitigate the menopause-specific quality of life.