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- Title
Symptom perception in healthy menopausal women: Can we predict concordance between subjective and physiological measures of vasomotor symptoms?
- Authors
Stefanopoulou, Evgenia; Hunter, Myra S.
- Abstract
Objectives Perception of physical symptoms is an important factor in medical help-seeking. We aimed to examine both physiological and subjective measures of a commonly reported physical symptom-vasomotor symptoms (hot flushes and night sweats; HF/NS), and to investigate factors that might influence symptom perception, that is, concordance, over-reporting, and under-reporting of symptoms in healthy menopausal women. Methods One hundred and forty women completed questionnaires assessing depressed mood, anxiety, stress, somatic symptoms, beliefs about HF/NS, and somatic amplification. Subjective and objective (24-h sternal skin conductance) measurements of HF/NS were obtained to assess concordance. Results Thirty-seven percent of HF/NS were concordant while 47 and 16 % were under-reported and over-reported, respectively. Depressed mood, anxiety, somatic symptoms, and negative beliefs about HF/NS were associated with (higher) concordance, (less) under-, or (more) over-reporting. Negative beliefs about night sweats and sleep were the strongest predictors of concordance, whereas additional somatic symptoms and smoking predicted over-reporting. Conclusions Just over one third of physiologically recorded HF/NS were perceived as hot flushes; under-reporting of symptoms was more common than over-reporting. Interestingly, women who were more accurate in detecting physiological HF/NS tended to report more psychological and somatic symptoms and negative beliefs about HF/NS. Both measures should be included as outcomes of clinical trials. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 26:389-394, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
- Subjects
POSTMENOPAUSE; VASOMOTOR system; HOT flashes; SOMATOFORM disorders; HEALTH outcome assessment; CLINICAL trials; PHYSIOLOGY; PSYCHOLOGY
- Publication
American Journal of Human Biology, 2014, Vol 26, Issue 3, p389
- ISSN
1042-0533
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1002/ajhb.22530