J Korean Acad Community Health Nurs JKACHN Journal of Korean Academy of Community Health Nursing 1225-9594 2288-4203 Korean Academy of Community Health Nursing 10.12799/jkachn.2010.21.4.429 Original Article Menopausal Symptoms and Depression Among Midlife Women Lee Hung Sa 1 Kim Chunmi 2 Assistant Professor, Department of Nursing, Daegu Haany University, Korea. Associate Professor, Department of Nursing, Sunmoon University, Korea. Address reprint requests to: Kim, Chunmi, Department of Nursing, Sunmoon University, tangjeong-myeon, Asan-si, Chungnam 336-708, Korea. Tel: 82-41-530-2757, Fax: 82-41-530-2767, cmchoi@chollian.net 12 2010 04 04 2014 21 4 429 438 08 11 2010 06 12 2010 07 12 2010 © 2010 Korean Academy of Community Health Nursing 2010 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Purpose

This study was descriptive survey research to examine the factors affecting menopause, depression and menopausal symptoms, and the relations among these factors in South Korean midlife women.

 Methods

The subjects were 319 midlife women in Daegu City. Measures were Zung's Self-Report Depression Scale (1979) to check depression, and the Midlife Women's Symptom Index developed by Im (2006) to check menopausal symptoms. Data were collected from June 1 to July 31, 2010. Collected data were analyzed by mean, standard deviation, and Pearson's correlation coefficient through SPSS/WIN 18.0.

 Results

There was a statistically significant correlation between depression and menopausal symptoms (r=.692, p<.001). The factors affecting depression were age (r=.194, p<.001), income (r=-.307, p<.001), exercise (r=-.602, p<.001), and menopausal status (r=.224, p<.001). The factors affecting menopausal symptoms were exercise (r=-.158, p<.037), menstrual pain (r=-.171, p=.004) and menopausal status (r=.222, p<.001).

 Conclusion

Intervention programs for decreasing menopausal symptoms in midlife women should be focused on relieving menopausal pain and encouraging excise from youth. Further studies will be needed to examine the relations among other factors including living style, area and menopausal symptoms.

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Socio-demographic Characteristics of the Subjects (N=319)

Health Behavior and Menstrual Characteristics of the Subjects (N=319)

Differences of Depression and Menopausal Symptoms

Correlation among General Characteristics, Health Behavior, Depression and Menopausal Symptoms

MSx=menopausal symptom.

Correlation among Menstrual Characteristics, Depression and Menopausal Symptoms