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Aim: To assess the prevalence of climacteric symptoms and their association with demographic, life-style and hormonal parameters in Greek peri- and recently postmenopausal women. Methods: 1025 Greek women who were either perimenopausal or within their first 5 postmenopausal years participated in this cross-sectional observational study. Menopausal symptoms were assessed by the Greene Climacteric Scale and were tested for associations with demographic, anthropometric, life-style and hormonal parameters. Results: 29.8% Of the women reported moderate to severe menopausal symptoms. More specifically, 39.2% reported vasomotor, 21.3% psychological, 6.3% psychosomatic and 34.5% sexual symptoms. Years since menopause ( r = 0.13, p < 0.01), waist circumference ( r = 0.11, p < 0.05) as well as serum FSH, LH and estradiol ( r = 0.15, r = 0.118, r = −0.157; p < 0.01) correlated with the intensity of menopausal symptoms. In the multivariate analysis years since menopause and serum estradiol were the only significant predictors of menopausal symptoms (b = −0.158 and b = −0.198, p < 0.001, respectively), explaining though only 4.8% of the variance. Conclusion: One out of three Greek women has moderate to severe climacteric symptoms during the menopause transition or the first postmenopausal years. This frequency is comparable to other White populations. Menopausal age and endogenous estrogens are significant predictors of climacteric symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contradictory results have been reported regarding a relationship between serum lipid levels and bone mineral density. The purpose of this study was to further investigate a possible relationship between those parameters in Greek postmenopausal women. A total of 591 patients followed at a tertiary hospital were examined for seven different lipid factors in relation to dual-emission X-ray absorptiometry measurements at the lumbar spine. Lipoprotein-a was the only lipid measurement that univariately showed an almost significant trend of association with bone mass category (analysis of variance [ANOVA] p value 0.062 for Ln(Lipoprotein-a)). In multiple regression, it was noted that a non-significant negative trend of association of high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and Apolipoprotein AI with lumbar T-score ( p value 0.058 and 0.075, respectively). In age subgroup analysis, Lipoprotein-a and Ln(Lipoprotein-a) presented a negative correlation with lumbar T-score for women with age ≥ 53 years ( p value 0.043 and 0.070, respectively), while a negative correlation of HDL and Apolipoprotein AI levels with lumbar T-score remained in women with age < 53 years ( p value 0.039 and 0.052, respectively). The findings do not support a strong relationship between lipid levels and bone mass measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim. Postpartum mood disturbances are common among Greek women, with postpartum depression (PPD) being as high as 19%. This study aimed to investigate whether sex steroid hormone levels affect the incidence of postpartum mood disturbances. Materials and methods. Fifty-seven women were evaluated for postpartum mood disturbances using the Postpartum Blues Questionnaire and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale on the 1st and 6th week. Serum estradiol, progesterone and testosterone concentrations were measured upon admission for delivery and daily until the fourth postpartum day. We then studied the association between hormone levels and the scores in the two psychometric scales. Results. Testosterone was the only hormone that was marginally associated with psychometric scoring in simple regression analysis. (Postpartum Blues during days 1-4: b=4.291, 95% C.I. -0.796 to 9.377 and p-value=0.096). Women with lower testosterone drops had higher scores in Postpartum Blues Questionnaire. This association, however, lost statistical significance in the multivariable analysis after adjusting for pregnancy duration. In multiple regression analysis, only pregnancy duration had the most constant adverse effect on psychometric scores: The shorter the duration of pregnancy, the higher the scores for Postpartum Blues. (r=-0.39, p<0.01). Conclusions. Our findings do not indicate an association between the occurrence of postpartum mood disorders and sex steroid hormone levels. Preterm labour may be associated with a higher risk of postpartum mood disturbances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]